Unemployment In America Essay

Improved Essays
In America during the 1930s, unemployment was an issue that caused many debates over how to deal with it and the same is true now. A common proposal to manage unemployment is to provide insurance for the unemployed, which would support those who are unable to work, such as seasonal workers, and improve the economy during economic depression. However, providing insurance for the unemployed would actually increase the unemployment rate and harm the economy. Instead, the American government should continue its welfare system, giving out support as needed, those of retiring age should retire, and individual businesses should create a reserve fund that unemployed workers could draw from for their paycheck when they are unable to work. Today, nearly …show more content…
First, benefits are usually given out because the unemployed deserve them, which is by no means wrong, but it does not work in the long run. Unemployment benefits must be given out as a matter of need, or the program will become far too expensive. Secondly, the cost of supplying unemployment insurance, especially if it is given as a right, is too much for an economy to handle. Everyone would have to pay; therefore, prices increase, and the same issue arises. Those without a steady income are unable to purchase the necessities to live. Some may argue that supplying the unemployed with purchasing power would improve their standard of living and the economy, and while it may improve the standard of living, supplying the unemployed with purchasing power providing by the public does nothing for the economy. By providing for the unemployed in this manner, prices increase so business can maintain a profit, and the unemployed face the same problem again. Another argument for unemployment insurance is that it would support those unable to work, but this faces the same issue as the last argument. By increasing the range of people supported, the price to provide the service increases, which increases prices so businesses can maintain a profit. Finally, to remedy these issues, businesses should instead look at replacing their elderly workers with young ones and creating a reserve fund to pay their employees when the employee is unable to

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    Unemployment has changed into a large problem in the United States over time. It happens when people don't have jobs and are trying to find work. Averages of 197 million people around the world were out of work in 2012. Unemployment can harm growth, it puts people into poverty; where these people can't afford groceries or even clothes for their children. During the time that workers are out of work, they are very capable of losing the skills they've acquired for this specific job. They could possibly lose their skills. A direct demand-side solution to unemployment is government-paid-for employment of the poor. Fighters of supply-side policies believe those policies can be solved by making the labor market…

    • 154 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    (It may even save money, if people become less dependent on government programs such as food stamps and Medicaid.) Yet that 's exactly what frightens conservatives, who say that new salary obligations for businesses could kill jobs, discourage employers from hiring workers, and ultimately slow the recovery.”(Cook) This quote is raising eyebrows to what is the best solution to this quandary. As history has been written there has never been any easy solutions. Opinions will fly and get tossed around and the final solution will not please…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The quote, “Britain is a nation divided by class whereas the US continues to be a classless society” is only partially true; both Great Britain (GB) and the United States of America (USA) are divided by social classes. However, at one point in time, roughly about the late 1900’s, the quote was highly debatable. The United States of America and other countries thought that there was little class differentiation in the USA and the social class system consisted mostly of the middle class. Michael Zweig’s “The Working Class Majority: America’s Best Kept Secret,” published in 2000, is a great example of why it was a controversy and how class systems existed in the USA even then. If there was not a myth surrounding America’s social classes, there would be no need for a book and countless others, debating class…

    • 1181 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Welfare Changes In America

    • 1592 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Is working even important? Welfare is a government funded program that is designed to help the unemployed or poor by helping them pay for food, housing, medical costs, and more (“Welfare”). For all that, there are many problems with the entire welfare system. The government should regulate the amount of money for welfare programs because it hurts the nation’s economy. The reasons are because welfare has loads of fraud, creates dependency, hurts working class, hurts government funded programs, and it is hurting the nation’s debt.…

    • 1592 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Joblessness In America

    • 899 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Everybody called the United States is an opportunity country with diverse races, genders, colors, traditions, and cultures. We always believed in our constitution, and we are going to defense this country's constitution. In this 21st century, we believe in the country Leader and their thought. We hoped that they were going to bring some changes for the citizens, but it wasn’t going to happen. In this modern world, this country divided into three classes, and they are upper, middle, and lower. A current population of the U.S. is 318.14 million, but three – fourth of country wealth were occupied by the Upper class. We see in the future that this country middle class going to miss. The middle and lower classes have to work harder, and wasn’t provided…

    • 899 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Much of America’s history is filled with challenges created by a foreign enemy, such as the Central Powers during World War I, or a domestic adversary, which could be anyone from the U.S. government to a specific group of people, like racist white Southerners. When faced with difficult times, Americans respond in a variety of ways but one of the main three responses is with defaming the group or person who is causing them fear, frustration, or pain. Another usual way Americans respond is with protesting or having a rebellious attitude when faced with frustrating decisions made by the U.S. government. And the last way Americans might respond is with violence. Not only over the course of the 20th century did Americans respond to global or local problems in these ways, but also from the beginning of the United States all the way up to the present day do they still remain accurate.…

    • 848 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Unemployment in the U.S. has been a problem ever since the 1930’s when it first flared up at its highest unemployment 13 to 15 million people were without a job. This was all as a result of the great depression, what many believe was one of the worst and longest economic crisis in the United States. Before the great depression the unemployment rate was around 5%. Then during the worst part of the great depression it was at 23% it affected many people’s lives. The reason why there was a high percent in the 1930’s was because there was there was full employment at 5% which meant that there was a lot of output but there was not enough money in the economy so they couldn’t sell all of that output.…

    • 295 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The big change in the United States government really happened during the Great Depression when the New Deal was introduced by Franklin Roosevelt. After World War 2 the Federal Government stayed with New Deal ideas and kept expanding its size, with social programs and military power. Democrats felt as the government could be used for good and that social programs such as welfare, were the government’s job. Republicans felt as though it wasn’t the government’s job to provide social programs for the population, and a big government is dangerous to the people’s rights. During the depression, people were desperate for help, but as America’s prosperity grew people needed less of the Government. People started to not trust the Government as much, and a strong counter culture grew and as the government grew exponentially, peoples trust in it grew smaller.…

    • 1291 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In a recent article posted by USA Today author, Paul Davidson, he states that the applications for unemployment aid have reached its lowest in a staggering 42 years. This shows that the job market is becoming stronger and unemployment rates are now comparable to 1973, when President Nixon was in control in the White House. The economic theory being tested is that if the American job market is as strong as before. This is proven to be true since the unemployment rate has dropped back to America before the massive economic crisis occurred. The problem at hand was that people were not sure whether or not the economy will ever rebound back to a stable state instead of the volatility that people have been accustomed…

    • 174 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Reserve Army of the Unemployed is a practice considered as healthy in today’s capital economy. This labor force consists of those who are unemployed and seeking a job. This percentage of the labor force is the culprit behind the high power corporations have over their employees. The reserve army is a threat to those in employment because if their employers don’t like an action the employee makes or fights for, like a raise in pay for example, the company can easily enough replace that employee. This process keeps the cost of wages from starting a price spiral. As a result, those employed have very weak power in comparison to the…

    • 112 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Cyclical changes in economic activity may lead to changes in this demand for labour, any drop in consumption, investment or export demand may add to cyclical unemployment. Unemployment generally starts to rise when growth is below 3%, with growth currently slowing “we continue to expect 2015 growth to be below consensus, and unemployment to edge higher to 6.5%” (The Guardian). Structural Change in consumption and production can cause structural unemployment to increase. Uncompetitive industries such as TCF and the car industry and manufacturing have been subjected to heavy job losses as resources have been reallocated towards the mining sector in the last decade. Substitution of labour for capital in primary industries as a result of improved technology has created a rise in short-term unemployment. Yet economists argue that in the long-term, technology creates more jobs as workers can be reemployed once they have been retrained. In times of strong growth, the hidden unemployed re enter the labour force, causing the participation and unemployment rate to rise. Any change in wages will have a significant impact on an employer’s choice to add or shed jobs. If there’s an increase in the minimum wage, demand for labour will contract as seen in the…

    • 1355 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    According to CNN (2016) the unemployment rate is 4.9, but should we feel great about this rate or not? Unemployment concerns many people around this world. Finding a job is one of the hardest things that a person could face. It doesn’t matter whether this job is good or not, but it is hard to find one. At the same time, it is hard for a government to create jobs for people. Heather Long(2016) wrote a magazine article”Why doesn't 4.9% unemployment feel great?“ published by CNN, which discussed the current unemployment rate, and if we should feel great about it or not. It also discussed how they calculate the unemployment rate, and what do they include or exclude in it. On the other side Stephen T. Evans wrote a scholarly article “An evaluation of the unemployment rates of the United States” published by Southern Utah University, also discussed the unemployment rate, but it criticized the government and how it should do something to help the middle class or otherwise they will be in a bad situation. Because Long’s article was more on point,included great support of his claims, entertaining, and…

    • 2241 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Labor Statistics reported the jobless rate has spiked up this year, and the number of unemployed workers not employed indicates America’s trend to be back on the road of recovery has faltered. The unemployment rate has soared back up to 19%, which means 10.4 million workers are looking for suitable jobs. Last year in 1937, only 14% of American workers, 7.7 million, were looking for work throughout this country. This is the first time unemployment has increased since the depression hit America in 1929. Since then, the jobless rate steadily elevated and peaked in 1933 where 24.75% or 12.8 million workers were not included in the labor market. After 1933, the jobless rate dropped almost 10% which demonstrates the economy was growing.…

    • 416 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Unemployment in the United States is a serious problem that continues to grow due to a number of reasons. The first major cause is due to job out sourcing overseas, particularly China where the labor costs are extremely low. The next big reason for unemployment in the U.S. is because of the high taxes which rank close to the worst of any country in the world. (A. Krulick, Debt.org) Two of the major financial indicators associated with unemployment are homelessness and starvation. These financial indicators have a significant effect on personal indicators such as marital issues and depression which are unfortunately are experienced by many who suffer from long term unemployment.…

    • 1064 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Unemployment in South Africa is a major problem, that the country has to face. The main problem of unemployment in South Africa is wage bargaining. The effects of the problem is high prices, less labor and an increase of wages. Many different efforts have been made by South Africa to approach this problem. The only way to completely stop unemployment is to fix the wage bargaining as a whole.…

    • 1285 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays