Unemployment in the United States

1868 Words4 Pages

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 Issue Unemployment for individuals is a relative concept. Currently, the US government defines the worker as someone who has to be actively seeking work, in order to count as unemployed; a worker who has given up searching for work, which many have done recently, they are no longer counted as unemployed. One possible reason for this is that statistically, numbers on unemployment are geared towards employers, that is because employers care only about the amount of movement within the labor market, which means they prefer unemployment levels that keep workers a bit concerned but not high enough to threaten economic activity or political stability. Workers barely connected to the workforce, are not a factor in this calculation. This is what the conventional debate over the statistical level of “full employment” is based on, and mainstream econom... ... middle of paper ... ...he rise, as record numbers of workers have left the workforce due to various impediments to employment, many of which have been brought about by our own government. Works Cited Carlton, J. (1992, Sept 24). The Lure of Cheap Labor: US Companies pour into Mexico. The Wall Street Journal, p. R16. Haugen, S. &. (1991). US labor market weakened in 1990. Monthly Labor Review, 3-16. Johnson, W. (1991). Global work force 2000: The new world labor market. Harvard Business Review, 115-127. Reich, R. (1991). Up the workers. The New Republic, 21,24-25. Unemployment: an LBO overview. (1999, Nov 27). Retrieved from Left Business Observer: http://www.panix.com/~dhenwood/Stats_unempl.html US-Mexico free trade agreement. (1992). Congressional Digest, 34. Winpisinger, W. (1989, Jan 15). Economic patriotism in a global economy. Vital Speeches of the Day, pp. 220-222.

Open Document