Unemployment Problem Among Graduates - Essay Example

Funnell and Rogers (2011, 58) stated that an effective social policy/ program needs to be able to overcome constraints arising from institutions, human resources, finance, and even politics that might be involved. In developing a social policy/ program, Funnell and Rogers (2011, 75-77) further noted that a theory is usually developed around the policy/ program, and it presents a feasible and plausible plan for improving the underlying social problem; this theory is usually known as the program theory.

The social problem that this present study proposes to fix is unemployment among graduate students. The root of this problem can be traced back to the economic recession that hit the United States in the period 2008 to 2010, resulting in many job losses (Rushe, 2013). Moreover, in the run-up to the last Presidential elections in the United States, the candidates were put to task on the social policies/ programs that they will implement to solve this problem, which has far-reaching detrimental consequences if it remains unresolved. Rushe (2013) stated that so far the Obama administration has been able to reduce the unemployment rate in the country because, in August, the rate of unemployment had decreased to 7.

30%, which was an improvement compared to the previous rate which stood at 7.40% (Rushe, 2013). However, it is of essence to note that this rate is still quite high considering that the average rate of unemployment in the U.S was only 5.82% from 1948 to 2013, and 1953 marked a record low of 2.5% while 1982 marked a record high of 10.82% (Rushe, 2013). Therefore, there is still a dire need of creating more jobs to absorb the unemployed and even resolve some of the vices that are associated with unemployment within society.

According to Rushe (2013), this social problem is relevant in justifying the development of a new policy because creating more jobs will improve the living standards of American citizens, it will reduce the social crimes attributed to unemployment, and will contribute to economic growth for the country. The program theory About the social problem that has been identified above, this present study, proposed a program theory that reads as follows; “employed an engineering student in the USA.” This theory acknowledges the social need that graduates need to find gainful employment to uplift their living standards and make a worthwhile contribution to the economic development of the country. The input that is under this program theory is for America to nurture more engineering students. Therefore, the output of this program is that the more engineers the U.S. has the less the country will experience issues of unemployment. The impact of the program theory is an increased rate of employment and the long-term goal is improved living standards for Americans and even improved economic development.