Thesis: “People are Unemployed because they want to be”, should not be used as a rationale for the overall level of unemployment currently being experienced.
Presented by: Kevin Henry
Northern Caribbean University
College of Business and Hospitality Management
Department of Professional and Continuing Education
Presented in partial fulfillment of the course
ENGL120: Freshman Composition 2
Presented to:
Ozette Waugh-Fagan (Mrs.)
Date: November 18, 2010
In a country characterized by job losses due to the recession, companies downsizing, and the ever changing climatic conditions we experience, how can we generalize and say that people choose not to be employed? The statement, “People are unemployed because they want to
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Many people also become unemployed involuntarily because of their company downsizing the operation. The downsizing strategies of many firms for whatever reason, has led to increased unemployment levels whereby, the company can no longer afford to produce at the optimal level they once were able to, and would no longer require the services of some of their employees.
Frictional unemployment occurs when people leave their job and search the labour market for something better. This is more of a problem when the economy is doing well than in a recession when fewer jobs exist, so workers tend to hold onto jobs if they have one. Frictional unemployment can be reduced by making information readily available for those looking for new jobs, for example in Job centres or on the internet and by making it difficult to claim benefits when unemployed so unemployed people have to get work in order to have a decent standard of living.
|Some industries have no choice (petrol) |The people who are willing to work there, are not ideal for working |
The debate over minimum wage increases has been a major political issue for decades. Some believe that a higher minimum wage will put more money into the economy and pockets of the lower classes. However; opponents believe that a minimum wage increase would do more harm than good. The Washington Post has published several articles on the issue, one of which being: “$15 is the Wrong Goal for Wage Warriors”, which doesn’t have a specific author; because it is a collaborative piece from the editorial board itself. The Wall Street Journal has also published an opposing article: “The Evidence Is Piling up That Higher Minimum Wages Kill Jobs”, written by David Neumark. The Editorial Boards main point of view is that the federal minimum wage should sustainably be increased, while David Neumark believes that a higher minimum wage would harm those whom the increase is meant to help; the unskilled. The Editorial Board’s
Minimum wage is the lowest amount of pay that employers can legally pay their workers. Minimum wage in the United States, is set at $7.25, the federal government takes out up to 12 percent of the whole payment for taxes. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) are the ones who have set the minimum wage from 1938 to the current year, 2017. The FLSA is a law that sets various labor regulations that includes interstate commerce employment, requirements for overtime pay, and the limits on child labor. Some argue that teenagers and low paying workers should be paid more than $7.25 dollars an hour, while others argue that they should suck it up and be thankful for what are paid. Researchers have stated that high minimum wage increases have helped bring the poverty level down in the United States. Other researchers have said that the level of minimum wage has little to no effect on the poverty level. Minimum wage is a happy medium that a company or organization sets for an employee; they use this as a starting point for an employee to receive raises and bonuses. Minimum wage is thought out to be by some a terrible thing because it is the reason our poverty levels are down, but with the minimum wage it has helped with economic growth.
An interesting article about the minimum wage: it emphasizes the self-interested perspective most people have when benefits are not extended to themselves. Top executives see their salaries/benefits increase substantially year after year and instead of taking our frustration out on them we blame our fellow working man. Not implying that all working men/women are altruistic or all wealthy people are greedy snobs, but the increasing gap between the rich and poor is alarming.
In this kind of unemployment, people usually suffer from country’s economical situations. Even people with good and healthy jobs undergo with crisis and loss their jobs just because of country’s economic policies don’t adapt changes and don’t have ability to adapt changes.
Minimum wage has caused controversy throughout history between the two parties in government, the Democrats and Republicans, debating if they should increase minimum wage or not. Minimum wage was first established during 1938 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt (Sessions). The first act to enforce employers to pay its employees is the Fair Labor Standards Act which followed the Social Security Act (Sessions). Minimum wage started as twenty-five (25) cents per hour which doesn’t seem like a lot, but it was at that time (Sessions). The United States tended to raise the minimum wage when the standard of living changed. Since 1938, two other amendments were created to increase minimum wage laws even more. By 1961, minimum wage raised to $1.15 with another increase in 1963 (wages). Since the 1963 wage change, minimum wage created a trend of increasing yearly or every other year (Wages). From 2007 to 2009 minimum wage increased each year making the current minimum wage $7.25 (wages). Sine minimum wage has been established, Congress has increased minimum wage twenty-two times (22) (). Since minimum wage is supposed to change when the standard of living changes, then why hasn’t the United States government changed it since 2009?
The minimum wage has arguably become the most controversial topic regarding our economy today, as it influences one of the largest classes of people within the United States, the working class. Federally, the minimum wage has not been raised in eight years, so it has stayed at $7.25 per hour for all non-exempt workers (U.S. DoL). The opinions on this topic are typically split across a progressive-conservative line, with progressives being in favor of a raise from $7.25, and conservatives wanting to stay at the current rate. This can be seen when looking at the typical progressive stances from states and municipalities that raise the minimum wage for businesses operating within their jurisdiction, since the higher rate among all levels of
However, life has changed, globalization and feminism have had a huge impact on the work environment all around the world. Technology has also made many jobs easier, yet very, very similar. Because of these changes, unemployment has become an issue all around the globe. The government views the unemployment situation as an individual problem. From the government’s perspective, unemployment is due to the lack of training of the individual. However, because
John Burges and William Mitchell state that unemployment trend has acted as a “social exclusion perpetrated against particular sections of the community, in general the young, old, poor and uneducated” (1998). The issue then lays in the trade off between the
Unemployment is currently measured in the United States by counting those who "do not have a job, have actively looked for work in the prior four weeks, and are currently available for work" (Leonhardt). This means that a great deal of people are not counted as unemployed because they are discouraged and have not looked for work in the past four weeks. Or, the person was injured in some way and they are "not currently" available for work. This does not mean that the people in either of these groups do not actually wish to find work, but it does mean that they are not counted because of an archaic system that has been used by
Basically, as long as they are getting paid to not work, many people will put off accepting a job.
In addition, opponents of the dream act claim that the 800,000 young people that qualified for DACA are taking jobs that belong to U.S. citizens. The dreamers have a tough fight ahead of them as attorney general Jeff Sessions went on to attack the dreamers uncompanionably by explaining that, because of them “hundreds of thousands of jobs were denied to U.s workers and given to the DACA beneficiaries. The statement made by the attorney general implies that there is an exact number of us jobs available and that the millions of Americans who are currently unemployed can blame fully blame the dreamers without taking into consideration the many factors that contribute to the unemployment of Americans. However it is important to note that the general failed to provide evidence or statistics to support his claim. Therefore, I will point out limitation to his argument by providing clear statistics that show that, the US labor market has been relatively healthy in recent years and even continues to improve. To illustrate, the graph below represents the US unemployment rate. The graph shows that, the US experienced a steady decline in the national unemployment rate, and according to data released in September by the US department of labor, there is an estimated 6.17 million job openings as of July 2017.
Unemployment has been a major problem that many of the nations find themselves in. United States is not an exception, citizens have complained to the government for lack of job and have demanded for a quick and strategic action to be taken to solve the problem, however unemployment is an issue that cannot be completely solved because of the many aspects that has to be considered by different stakeholders.
Being unemployed feels scary and frustrating. Knowing what to do during this time can mean the difference between finding a new job or not. While many of the unemployed spend their days pounding the pavement, others have taken refuge in the halls of academia. It turns out that this actually proves to be a very good idea. According to Forbes, hiring managers see taking classes as a positive move toward getting a job. If you’ve decided to attend a community college or a university while you’re looking for a job, here are some things to consider.