Unemployment Rate and the GDP Growth Rate in Greece and in Australia - Assignment Example

DRAFT Unemployment Introduction Unemployment is the inability of providing gainful work to people who are willing to work and according to ILO “ International Labour Organization”, Unemployment occurs when people are without jobs and they have actively sought work within the past four weeks. It is unquestionable that rising unemployment is one of the most pressing issues in the industrial world, as unemployment has become a leading world problem after the economic slowdown affected almost the entire world. However, the unemployment situation in some countries has already reached to extreme levels to an extent of posing major security threats to the respective countries since unemployment is recognized as the mother of courtliness ills like dishonesty, corruption and falsehood. It makes humans develop the dark side of their character. This paper is going to explore the issue of unemployment into by first describing the link between the unemployment rate and the GDP growth rate in Greece and in Australia during the period 2003-2012; explaining causes of structural unemployment in Nigeria as well as evaluating policies adopted by the coalition government since 2010 to reduce unemployment in the UK. Using relevant statistics, describe the link between the unemployment rate and the GDP growth rate in Greece and in Australia during the period 2003-2012 ( You are not expected to compare the two countries Sources show that Australia’s unemployment rate began to climb at the same time carbon tax started to increase. The carbon tax began on July 2012 and since then the rate of unemployment that had been dormant for two years started increasing dramatically. Australia’s GDP is said to have been outperforming that of major developed countries in the year 2011 and 2012 since its economy was accelerating upwards an impressive rate not until the carbon tax was implemented. In 2012, the rate of unemployment in Australia was 5.2% 2009-1.9 2010-2.0 2011-2.2 2012-3.6 By providing appropriate data and evidence, explain four causes of structural unemployment in Nigeria Unemployment in Nigeria is among the most critical problems that the country has been facing for many years. The rate of unemployment in the country is at alarming levels despite the fact that Nigeria is endowed with diverse and infinite resources, both human and material. According to a study that was conducted in 2010, the secondary-school graduates consisted of the principal fraction of the unemployed accounting for nearly 35% to 50% with the average the rate of unemployment within the age group of 20 to 24 years being 40 % while that for persons between 15 to 19 years was found to be 31 %. There exists a number of factors that are believed to be the root causes of structural unemployment in the country. However, it is important to have an understanding of structural unemployment from economists’ point of view before embarking on its cause in Nigeria. Economists usually associate structural unemployment with changes in demand and argue that this type of unemployment is caused by changes in the country’s industrial structure through the switching of production from one kind of work to another. Such a change produces unemployment only because of the immobility of factor of production and it is deemed to occur when an industry suffers a decline in the demand for its product without any compensating new demand arising. In this case, if labor was perfectly mobile it would quickly be reabsorbed by other expanding industries while workers will have to be unemployed if labors are immobile. Structural unemployment also occurs when there are insufficient numbers of skilled people for the available jobs, yet there is a high number of unemployed or underemployed people because they lack the skills and education needed to fill the available jobs. In addition, structural unemployment can also be caused by geographical problems and because of automation in the work place (e.g. need for higher and higher computer skills), rigidities in the labor market, such as high costs of training or in the case of US de-industrialization as manufacturing jobs are continuously lost to Poor education system Education system in Nigeria is one of the main causes of structural unemployment. Carried out studies have confirmed that one important feature of unemployed people in the country is that most of them are educated, having gone through some formal or informal education system and that the country has also been experiencing a rapid expansion of primary, secondary and tertiary educational enrollment. According to the 2010/2011 labor force sample survey, the secondary-school graduates consisted of the principal fraction of the unemployed accounting for nearly 35% to 50% with the average the rate of unemployment within the age group of 20 to 24 years being 40 % while that for persons between 15 to 19 years was found to be 31 %. This means that there is a high likelihood that significant percentage of the unemployed persons in the country do not possess adequate skills that would make them employed. Attitude of the students and the nature of the Nigerian curriculum are also key points that can be considered under education. There have been complains that the country is still stuck to the old curriculum system that is irrelevant to the employment needs. The colonial grammar school orientation has remained the dominant feature of most school curricula, and emphasis has been on academic preparation for university education. In Nigeria, the secondary school system is not viewed as a possible terminal educational point in one’s career. In addition, the existing technical and Vocational Schools are all ill equipped and admit pupil who are considered as dropout from school, a factor that makes such students graduate from these schools without adequate technical or vocational skill to support themselves thus remain unemployed. Increase in population Many economic experts have attributed unemployment in the country to the consistently increasing population. Nigeria’s population has been increasing at a very high rate especially during the 20th century thus making the country produce a higher number of graduates and trainees than her economy can support. The rate at which job opportunities are created in the country is far much below compared to the rate at which the population is increasing. This imbalance creates intense competition in the labor market, as there are few employment opportunities. This leads to a situation where for every available opportunity, there are more than one qualified individuals, meaning that when one gets employment, others will lack employment. Uncontrolled population increase is a major problem especially considering the fact that industries are currently shifting production activities from labor intensive to capital intensive by investing in sophisticated technologies. When these machines replace workers, they lack employment hence contributes to unemployment. Rural-Urban Migration Just like most other developing countries, the rate of rural migration in Nigeria is very high because youths travel to urban centers in search for job opportunities and better living standards. Many school leavers are unable to continue their education or find employment in their home village or towns and consequently have to migrate to large towns where they swell the rank of the unemployed. However, the Nigerian government has been implementing effective measures such as introduction of free education as well as improvement of the living standards of people living in the suburbs. Education raises the level of unsatisfied needs in residents of village and small towns where opportunities for desired types of jobs are limited thus making youths develop a motive force for city-ward migration. However, these people end up being disappointed when they reach the big cities because they lack necessary skills to make them employed thus ending up providing manual labor that is highly underpaid. Rural- Urban Wage Rate Differential In Nigeria, people migrate to urban centers despite the fact that they are aware that unemployment is a serious problem in their country both in the rural and in the urban centers. However, most people prefer migrating into urban centers since the urban-rural differentials wage rate has been in favor of urban workers for a long time. There is a huge gap between urban and rural earning in Nigeria since sources show that in some situations employees earn incomes that are four times or even more compared to what they used to earn back in their villages. Another possible cause of structural unemployment in Nigeria include the aspects of poor economic growth because the country has undergone many years of corruption, civil war, military rule, and mismanagement. Nigeria is endowed with diverse and infinite resources, both human and material even though years of negligence and adverse policies have led to the under-utilization of these resources. http://www.economywatch.com/unemployment/countries/nigeria.html Evaluate any three policies adopted by the coalition government since 2010 to reduce unemployment in the UK The UK coalition government has been applying a number of strategies in attempt to tackle some of the structural issues behind the stubbornly high youth unemployment that was estimated to be over a million by the start of year 2013. Schools and education The UK coalition government has also been using other policies that have been specifically been targeting youths. Schools and education has been one of such long-term policies whereby the UK government introduced a programme of structural reform of the school system, including the rollout of more Academies and Free Schools targeting at providing a quality of education for all which matches the best in the world. During the launch of this programme, government officials argued that providing the country’s youth with quality and updated education is the best preparation for entry to an increasingly competitive labour market. The UK government is targeting to help the most disadvantaged people in the society through the Pupil Premium. According to the most recent OECD Adult Skills Survey, UK was found to be lagging in core skills such as numeracy and literacy, skills that are very essential and closely related to the employment prospects of young people. This policy is focusing on math and English in school education reforms by laying special emphasize on phonics in early literacy, and putting more rigorous mathematics at the heart of the secondary qualifications reforms. Moreover, the UK government is making sure that all young people who do not achieve at least a C grade in English and mathematics in their GCSE results are able to carry on studying this post-16 and have set an ambition that by the end of the decade, the vast majority of 16-18 year-olds will be studying mathematics. The government has also enriched this approach by Youth Contract In April 2012, the UK coalition government launched a package of support known as Youth Contract that was worth nearly £1billion with the primary goal being to help young unemployed people prepare for work and find a long-term sustainable employment. This package builds on the support that is already available through Jobcentre Plus and the Work Programme. During the launch, it was estimated that the initiative would provide nearly half a million new opportunities for young people in a period of less than three years though it appears as if the government was just over ambitious. Youth Contract was expected to be offering 160,000 wage incentives worth up to £2,275 each for employers who recruit an 18 to 24 year old who has spent six months or more on benefit from Jobcentre Plus or through the Work Programme. It was meant to be providing an extra 250,000-work experience or sector-based work academy places over three years, taking the total to at least 100,000 a year among other various benefits in attempt to encourage employers to hire youths. However, analysts argue that Wage incentive payments has had little impact towards eradicating unemployment. Apprenticeships and Traineeships The UK government introduced apprenticeships and traineeships through introduction of Study Programmes for persons aged 16-19 in attempt to equip them with the skills and knowledge that employers need. The government has understood the importance of equipping youths with skills that would impress potential employers thus help them in securing and succeeding in their jobs. Traineeships were introduced in England in August 2013 primarily to support a significant number of young people into Apprenticeships and other employment opportunities. The core target group of this program was people who are not currently in a job and have little work experience, but who are focused on work or the prospect of it. Other approaches used by the UK coalition government include launching of Innovation Fund whereby the first package was released in 2011 and it was worth £30 million meant to support innovations and social investment projects for three years. The main goal of the project was to support disadvantaged young people though special focus being persons aged 14 years and over. However, statistics show that there has been less uptake of the government’s apprenticeship scheme than targeted. Works Cited Read More