Unemployment

Unemployment
Student:
Professor:
Course title:
Date:
Unemployment
According to Gatzia, unemployment refers to the state of being without employment, and occurs when individuals who are actively seeking employment remain unhired (15). The population of unemployed persons is comprised of people who are of working age, and different countries have clearly defined the working age. There are many reasons that result to unemployment in any given country, these reasons range from lack of economic opportunities or slowing of economies, to employment discrimination, to lack of skill, to overpopulation among other reasons (Gatzia 24). This paper discusses the problem of unemployment in our societies today, its causes and the possible solutions at both the individual and group or global levels.
The problem of unemployment affects both developing and developed countries, and as of November 2012, the rate of unemployment in the United States stood at 7.7% or 12.1 million people. This compares favorably to many other developed nations whose rates are below 10%, for instance United Kingdom 7.8%, Switzerland 3.1%, Netherlands 6.6%, Germany 5.4% and France 8.9% (Iversen, Pontusson and Sockise 107). In most cases, Unemployment leads to lower standards of life and poverty. Many individuals are keen to securing jobs and support themselves and their families, but some of them get disappointed in their search for employment since there are no enough decent jobs for everyone. The lack of employment opportunities has brought hopelessness and depression to those affected, especially the youth who sometimes resort to criminal activities such as drug trafficking or robbery in order to get money and sustain themselves and their families (Abaidoo, 24). This has in turn created more problems in the society.
There are several causes of unemployment. The first is job outsourcing as Gatzia (27) has observed. This occurs when a company relocates its call centers or manufacturing activities to another country because of cheaper labor costs there. Many companies in western countries outsource cheap labor from workers in India and China. This has in turn contributed to unemployment in these western countries. Unemployment is also caused when businesses lay off workers. This typically happens during a recession when consumer demand slows such that businesses lose a lot of profit and must lay off workers when they do not expect sales to pick up soon (Iversen, Pontusson and Sockice 31). Moreover, job dissatisfaction also leads to unemployment. Many people take up jobs and when they are not contented with them, they quit (Abaidoo 30). Job dissatisfaction is therefore a major cause of unemployment.
T...