In the current economy, where the unemployment rate is significantly higher than normal in comparison to previous years, the people are clamoring for solutions from their leaders in government. There have been plans in the works in the Obama administration to create more jobs, yet nothing has come to fruition. Currently, as Congress is teetering towards gridlock once again, the Republican House Speaker and House Majority Leader have proposed to President Obama that he include a plan called “Georgia Works” into his latest proposal to Congress. The program would find temporary jobs for people without any cost to the employers. These people would also receive job training while getting unemployment pay or payment from the government with the hopes that they would eventually be hired for a full time job (Calmes). In his State of the Union address, the President included the plan, but it brings up the question of scope of government. Should making programs that will keep Americans employed until they can find proper employment the responsibility of the federal government?
The United States was in a recession from December of 2007 to June of 2009, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research (National). During that time the unemployment rate was in the range of 5% to 9.5% (Labor). What is confusing to many American is that while they are being told the economy is growing and the recession is over, the unemployment rate is still fairly high. In fact, only four months after the recession “ended,” in October 2009 the unemployment rate peaked at 10.1%. It has been steadily decreasing over the past two years to its current 9.0%. President Obama proposed the American Jobs Act to rectify the unemployment problem in...
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...an Journal Of Political Science 54.4 (2010): 906-920. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 Nov. 2011.
Edwards, George C., First III, Martin P. Wattenberg, and Robert L. Lineberry. Government In America, People, Politics, And Policy. 11th ed. Longman, 2011. Print.
“Labor Force Statistics From the Current Population Survey.” data.bls.gov. Bureau of Labor Statistics. n.d. Web. 28 November 2011.
Office of Press Secretary. “Fact Sheet: The American Jobs Act.” whitehouse.gov. The White House. 8 September 2011. Web. 28 November 2011.
The National Bureau of Economic Research. National Bureau of Economic Research. n.d. Web. 28 November 2011.
“The long-term unemployed: The ravages of time.” The Economist. 1 October 2011. n.p. Web. 29 November 2011.
Silverleib, Alan. Obama vows to break jobs plan into separate bills after Senate setback. CNN, n.d. Web. 28 Nov 2011.
A key to victory this November is the unemployment rate. According to a Bloomberg National Poll conducted in March 8-11, 42% of Americans consider unemployment and jobs as “the most important issue facing the country right now” (Priorities). Although there has been 24 consecutive months of private sector employment growth, the Federal Reserve suggests that the numbers could fade in the coming months. The importance of creating more jobs cannot be stressed enough. No President in the recent era has been reelected with the unemployment rate above 7.2% (Roth). To paint a picture, in late 1982, the unemployment rate topped 10.8 under Ronald Reagan. However, about 36 months later, the rate dropped to 7.2% percent. The drastic drop in the n...
2009, the unemployment rate decreased gradually. This statistic shows that the policies of United States are very successful.
Every few years, countries experience an economic decline which is commonly referred to as a recession. In recent years the U.S. has been faced with overcoming the most devastating global economic hardships since the Great Depression. This period “a period of declining GDP, accompanied by lower real income and higher unemployment” has been referred to as the Great Recession (McConnell, 2012 p.G-30). This paper will cover the issues which led to the recession, discuss the strategies taken by the Government and Federal Reserve to alleviate the crisis, and look at the future outlook of the U.S. economy. By examining the nation’s economic struggles during this time period (2007-2009), it will conclude that the current macroeconomic situation deals with unemployment, which is a direct result of the recession.
Between January 2008 and February 2010, employment fell by 8.8 million, the largest decline in American history. The 2008 Recession, which officially lasted from December 2007 to June 2009, began with the bursting of an 8 trillion dollar housing bubble. Job losses during the recession meant that family incomes dropped, poverty rose, and people all over the country were suffering. Things like this don’t just happen. Policy changes incorporated with the economy are often a major factor. In this case, all roads lead to one major problem: Deregulation. Deregulation originating from the Carter and Regan Administrations, combined with a decrease in consumer spending, and the subprime mortgage bubble all led up to the major recession of 2008.
Obama knows his economic plan will not produce jobs in the private sector. Blaming Republicans and George Bush is his only defense of his policies. The only offense he has is creating more public sector jobs and bailing out states to protect the jobs of his base; the unions.
During the Great Recession as well as the Great Depression, many individuals were left unemployed. Due to the Great Recession, employment had fallen “14.6 percent, from December 2007 to June 2009” (Goodman and Mance 4) in the manufacturing industry. During the Great Depression, unemployment rates reached a high of about 23 percent among Americans (Samuelson paragraph 7). Although the unemployment rate of the Great
For what has been a very, very long time, our elected representatives have sought to achieve “full employment” as a national goal….but full employment has been suspect as a possible cause of inflation, and is therefore weakened by decisions of the Federal Reserve, in an attempt to retard inflation. In terms of causes, unemployment has changed; the character, degree of severity, possible solutions of unemployment over the last ten years or so have been reduced, and has morphed in terms of just who is experiencing the unemployment and the suggestions for answering the problem. It has been the traditional fundamental trades, like manufacturing, viewed as part of the shift in the economy towards the new information age model, as workers transition from a manufacturing economy to a service economy, all the while over-coming the obstacles set forth by our own government.
Unemployment, it is all too common of a label in this day and age for the American society. In Joshua Cooper Ramo’s article, “Unemployment Nation,” he clearly states: “the government can’t hire everyone” and that there is a decrease in jobs nationally. Ramo’s article was published in the Spetember 21, 2009 TIME magazine and includes many personal tragedies that happened to real Americans who have lost their jobs and are unsuccessful in finding another employer. Many hardships are about to sweep over the United States with an increase in percentage of Americans who are jobless, but with unemployment on the rise, where or how can America create more stable jobs?
Whiteside, Noel and James Gillespie. "Deconstructing Unemployment: Developments in Britain in the Interwar Years," The Economic History Review, Vol. 44, No. 4. (Nov., 1991), pp. 665-682.
In December 2007, the United States of America experienced a very scarce yet appealing setback. In fact, because of this specific dilemma between 200,000 and 500,000 were left unemployed and without a stable home. The national Bureau of the Economic research defined this nationwide downfall as “The great recession”. According to the U.S Bureau of labor statistics the unemployment rate has not made a drastic improvement since the start of the great recession. Unemployment has become that is still rising today with a slow rate of change. Unemployment is usually expressed as a number or as a percentage of a larger number. Although it has been ambiguous who has to be included in the percentage, there are members of society without a job, for whom it is certain that should not be added. Officially the unemployed are the people who are registered with the government as willing to work and able to work at a going wage rate but can’t find suitable employment despite an active search for work. In the article “why long-time employment can’t get back on track”, the author begins speaking on a ...
There are a multitudinous number of both economic and social difficulties associated with unemployment. One fundamental reason why the government particularly stresses on reducing unemployment levels is as a result it poses a great cost on the economy. Not only does it affect the economy, but also it poses a great threat towards the living standards of the unemployed people itself. This could lead to many receiving less or no income based on whether or not they receive unemployment welfare benefits from the government. Reduction in income, would lead to a less disposable inc...
...with these policies are devastating long term unemployment. Long term unemployment refers to a cohort of the unemployed who have been out of work for one year or more (Halpin, B. and Hill, J, 2007). Tackling long term unemployment is crucial for the Irish government.
Mouhammed, A. H. (2011). Important theories of unemployment and public policies. Journal of Applied Business and Economics, 12(5), 100-110.
In a recap, the three policies introduced, the Unemployment Reformation Act of 2059, the Infinite Education Opportunities Program Act, and the Unity Tax, will be a vital part in restoring and surpassing expectations for decreasing the percentage of Americans unemployed by ten to fifteen percent within the next six to eight months. I believe that with these policies the chances of a recession will not occur for a long period of time. For that matter, a recession may not occur again depending on how successful the unemployment plans develop. Nevertheless, I predict that by the year 2109 the employment rate for Americans will reach eighty-three to eighty-five percent.
Daly, Mary, Bart Hobijn, and Joyce Kwok. 2015. “Jobless Recovery Redux?” FRBSF Economic Letter 2015-18