The Editorial Board
September 6, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/07/opinion/when-jobs-are-not-plentiful.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&ref=unemployment&adxnnlx=1379642522-uU7SuGxDhBMqBM2ILwx44g
Summary:
According to the August unemployment report, last month the economy was able to produce roughly 169,000 jobs throughout the country. However, this was less than the previous months of June and July. The August unemployment rate dropped from 7.4 percent in July to 7.3 percent. Information shows that this was due to a shrinking labor force rather than folks being laid off. In the August report, results showed that out of all the people who are of working age, only 63.2 percent were working or looking for work. This stunning result was the lowest percentage since the year 1978. In August, many of the private-sector jobs created were low-paying retail and food service jobs, in addition to some government jobs here and there. The sign of a bad labor market is horrible wage growth. In the past year, the average wages have been horrible. For the economy to grow, consumers need to spend, but spending won’t pick up without wage growth, and wages won’t rise without stronger job growth.
Opinion:
I believe that regardless of the .1 percent decline in the unemployment rate, the big picture remains the same. There are more people out of work than ever before since the late 1970's. The statistic seems crazy if you think about it. If you take a look at some poorer cities (Chicago for example), where 1 in 10 people don't have jobs, it is easy to understand where this statistic comes from. We are all fortunate to live in an area where there are no signs of massive unemployment and suffering compared to other largely populated cities.
I agree. I think this is a completely unacceptable statistic and we must do something to change this. If we ever want to get back on the right track, it's imperative to get folks back into the labor force.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the statements made by both you and Alex but the real question is how do we get people into the labor force who are now sitting on their behinds. If America can figure that out we can end the whole problem. However I believe that the only way to do that is to take away most of the aid people receive and use force to make them find a job, no matter how menial.
ReplyDeleteNo rational being can defend the situation in Chicago and Detroit. There is clearly an issue with the work ethics of the people, but also the management of the cities by the government. There is a large amount of government intervention in those cities, and maybe that is a slight indicator of why things are going poorly. Let the free market do its thing.
ReplyDeleteBen has a good point. If people are just giving up looking for jobs, how will we get them back into the labor force? Also, how would increasing wages help anything? I think that would hurt a lot of smaller business which would then lead to a worse economic state. I think the first step that needs to be taken in order to get these jobs back is to cut some unemployment programs to encourage people to look for work.
ReplyDeleteThis really shocks me, I realize there is little work ethic but I never realized how bad it was. The Chicago problem is ridiculous, something has to be to fix he problem, I just have no idea what. People need more incentives and motivation to get a job.
ReplyDeleteThis statistic is upsetting no matter who you are. Since I am a lowly, uninformed high school student, I have no proper idea of how to fix this problem that seems to remain problematic, despite efforts to the contrary. One possible solution that I could put forth is government placement in training programs and other job-finding methods once the unemployed citizen has been receiving benefits for a certain amount of time. While this could work, it would be taking away the amount of economic freedom that our country is proud to have.
ReplyDeleteI'm doing my topic on Unemployment and read an article similar to this one. I agree though of course this statistic is absolutely horrible and we need to fix it but I don't know how we can motivate the people who are out of work to look for work.
ReplyDelete