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Unemployment Of The United States

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Brian Winter Ms. Cintorino English 11-R 5 April 2017 Unemployment in the United States Many people believe that their job defines their place in society and that productive, con-tinuous work is one of the elements needed for a happy life. Therefore, when a person becomes unemployed, he/she may lose hope, disrupt relationships, become depressed or sick, and even su-icidal. “Long term unemployment can often be financially, emotionally, and psychologically de-structive” (Krulick). In order to maintain a place in society, a person must be able to pay bills, support a family, and contribute to the community. Unemployment in the United States is a ma-jor social problem; better plans should be started by the government to help reduce the …show more content…

This reduced unemployment to 6.8%. Another important action was by Presi-dent John F. Kennedy; he cut taxes and expanded Social Security and unemployment benefits. Krulik documented that this fought the recession and that the rate of unemployment went from 6.7% to 5.5%. By the 1980’s, unemployment peaked at 10.8%. President Ronald Reagan was able to reduce the rate by the end of his second term. Both Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush were able to keep the unemployment rate between 4 and 6 percent. “Then The Great Reces-sion occurred and raised the rate above 10%. It stays above 8% until September 2012” (Krulik). Most recently, President Obama’s administration proposed the American Jobs Act. Although it was never enacted there is the possibility that it could have reduced the unemployment rate sig-nificantly. When it comes to reducing unemployment, there are always going to be different opinions on what is best for the country. The Bureau of Labor and Statistics measures unemployment twice a month. This branch of government conduct surveys to establish the number of people unemployed. People are un-employed for various reasons. The Bureau classifies them as long term unemployed, marginally attached to the labor force, part time for economic reasons and discouraged workers. People that are not working for twenty seven weeks or more are considered long term unemployed. If an in-dividual has looked for a job in the past twelve

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