Unemployment In A Utopian World

Unemployment

No one desires for others to not have enough. In a utopian world there would always be more than enough to go around with the entire work force ecstatic to go in the next day. Unfortunately, this is not reality and despite the many improvements made with technology in the last 100 years, robots are not yet able to complete all of our tasks while we drink piña coladas on a beach. These shortcomings translate into the fact that not all of our population is able to provide for themselves all of the time or as it is more commonly known unemployment. There are different types of unemployment that affect the unemployed in various ways, which will then correspond to how easy or difficult it is for them to find other employment. We

The labor force is defined as people who are over the age of 16 that are working or are actively seeking a paid work. The labor force therefore excludes people that are not seeking jobs from unemployment calculations. The percent of unemployment is the number of unemployed people divided by the labor force.

Not all types unemployment are created equal. There are different ways people dip a toe or sink like quick sand in the unemployment pool. Most unemployed people are job losers, as they were laid off or fired. The rest are job quitters, new entrants such as teenagers, or reentrants, which are primarily mothers returning to the work force (117, Schiller).

There are two types of unemployed people that are not counted as a part of unemployment statistics, discouraged workers and underemployment. Discouraged workers would like to be employed and participating in the economy, and they would probably be out looking for work if it was available, but since they are no longer actively seeking employment they are not counted. Underemployment of the work force happens when people accept jobs part-time when they would like to be full-time or they accept a job below their skill level. This generally happens when people need money support themselves or their family and the type of job they normal obtain is

Seasonal unemployment occurs because some jobs have a certain duration that is controlled by external forces such as the weather. For example, ski workers generally find other jobs or become unemployed in the warmer months because it is not yet possible to go skiing in summertime, unless you are in Dubai.

Frictional unemployment can be thought of as the “good” unemployment. This unemployment occurs because highly skilled people are shopping for their next career move or newly graduated students are taking the time to find a job that will best suit them instead of taking the first one they are offered. There is a sufficient demand for these workers and their unemployment tends to be brief.

Structural unemployment is the opposite; highly skilled people cannot find work because their skills do not match what the labor market is demanding. Since they do not possess the right skills for the jobs available the duration of this type of unemployment tends to last far