Free Essay On Current US Unemployment Level

Introduction

Unemployment is a situation where citizens in a country are looking for jobs, but there are no jobs available for them. The study carried out by the US Bureau of Labor statistic (2015) has revealed that the rate of unemployment stayed unchanged at 5.5% in the United States. The US Bureau of Labor statistic has further shown that the employees in the mining industries lost their jobs while employment trends in healthcare, the retail trade, and the business services increased.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistic study has also showed that the unemployment rate for adult males was 5.1% while that for adult women was 4.9% and for the teenagers was 17.5%. The number of the new entrants decreased by 157,000 in March, and it is projected to reduce by 342,000 over the years (US Bureau of Labor Statistic, 2015). It was also evident that the long-term unemployment (individuals who have been jobless for more than 27 weeks) were little changed in March at 2.6 million. The individuals from the above category accounted for 29.8% of the total individuals who are unemployed. Over the years, the civilian labor participation has remained unchanged at about 62.8% (US Bureau of Labor Statistic, 2015). The number of involuntary part-time workers changed by a small margin. The number of discouraged workers reduced slightly this year at 738,000. The discouraged workers are composed of those individuals who do not look for jobs because they firmly believe that jobs for them are not available.
Voluntary unemployment comes about when individuals who are willing to work leave their jobs and start looking for new jobs. It results when individuals who were previously working are forced to look for the new employment opportunity (Wagner, 2014).
In fictional unemployment, individuals, for example, the students move into the workforce for the first time. Alternatively, a person can move to a new city for the first time and start looking for jobs. It can also result when women get back to the workforce after having children, but maternity leave is not included in this category.
Cyclical unemployment occurs when there are booms and recession in economic growth. The rate of unemployment is usually very high during recession and low during times of high economic growth. During the recession, cyclical unemployment occurs because the demand for goods and services are reduced as companies respond by laying off workers thus cutting wages and price (Wagner, 2014). The number of workers in an economy becomes higher than the available jobs hence unemployment results.
Structural unemployment occurs when there are many workers in the labor market than the jobs that are available, and the wages are not decreased to bring the market into equilibrium. Ideally, structural unemployment can also occur when workers in the job market are highly trained for skills, which are not demanded much in the workforce market. A mismatch between the employer and the workers can result in structural unemployment (Wagner, 2014).
In relation to the seasonal unemployment, the demand for workers varies widely in the course of one year. Seasonal unemployment is a unique type of structural unemployment because the job market does not require particular skills on a given season of the year (Wagner, 2014). An example of a sector of the economy that requires seasonal unemployment is the agricultural sector where labor is not need when production is off season.
Part-time workers seeking full-time employment in some reasons are considered to be unemployed and have an impact on the calculation of overall unemployment. It increases the percentage rate of individuals who are unemployed because people working as part-time workers are still looking for jobs that meet their qualification (Bernal-Verdugo, Furceri & Guillaume, 2012). The number of people looking for employment increases as they are all considered to be unemployed because they are looking for jobs that fit their requirement. Part-time unemployment might be considered disguised unemployment.
The reduction in unemployment for the past two years can be attributed to the increase in business investment in US that created job opportunities. An Increase in export is also one of the factors that have led to the decrease in the unemployment level as export industries continued to expand and the demand for labor increases (Bianchi, 2008). Most of the US citizens changed their attitudes in that, they were not depending on formal employment and were ready to start businesses. Consequently, this reduced the portion of the population that is not working and increased the creation of job opportunity through entrepreneur development. The motivation of the students in universities and colleges to be creative and innovative in the creation of employment instead of looking for work also reduced the rate of unemployment in US in the last two years.
The sector of the economy that was significantly affected by the unemployment was the mining industry where the highest percentage of the employee lost their jobs (Wagner, 2014). The reason as to why the mining industry was highly affected is because other countries had a comparative advantage in mining hence reducing the prices of the product. In addition, the demand for mining products from US reduced. What’s more, inadequate government policies in the country scared the investors who could have invested in the mining industry.

References

Bernal-Verdugo, L. E., Furceri, D., & Guillaume, D. M. (2012). Crises, Labor Market Policy, and Unemployment (PDF Download) (No. 12-65). International Monetary Fund.
Bianchi, M., & Zoega, G. (2008). Unemployment Persistence: Does the size of the shock matter? Journal of Applied Econometrics, 13(3), 283-304.
Wagner, B. (2014). Types of Unemployment. Montana Department of Labor and Industry, Research and Analysis Bureau.
US Bureau of labor statistic. (2015). Overview of BLS Employment Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/bls/employment.htm