Microeconomics Research Assignment: Specialization And Unemployment

Microeconomics
Your name
Your Institution of Affiliation
February 21, 2018
Introduction
Throughout the years, unemployment (and “underemployment”) has been one of the greatest problems that our society is yet to solve. Yet, due to the volatility of the market system and the ever-increasing demand for more specialized work, more and more individuals today are becoming a part of the ever-increasing population of the “unemployed”. In line with this, Abel, Deitz, and Su (2014) conducted a study to understand how the rates un- and under-employment correlates with educational attainment. On one hand, they found that as compared from the previous decades, unemployment for recently graduated college students have steadily decreased, with this population being the bigger part of the workforce as they complete the “transition”. On the other, however, this pattern also affected the quality of jobs available for individuals who are “underemployed” as recent graduates opt to accept part-time and/or low-wage ones.
Specialization and Unemployment
Just as the previous decades, the patterns of unemployment shows that in order to become “employed”, most individuals these days would need years and training and experience. This requirement forwarded by most companies today proves to be one of the main reason as to why recently graduated students have accepted part-time jobs and other low-wage ones, regardless of whether it fits their college education or not. Due to the encroachment of this population towards the jobs which are traditionally held by the underemployed (without college degrees), most of the population belonging to the latter was left with no choice but to take on lower-quality jobs, just to make ends meet. Yet, this phenomenon is not the same throughou...