Unemployment in the United States - Essay Example

Since then, the American has tried all means to revive the economy and decrease the unemployment rates in the country. Consequently, there has been an impressive progress in the rates of unemployment marked by a trend of decline. Currently, the rate of unemployment is at 5.5%, a figure similar to the rate reported in February. Despite this lowest rate in over 7 years, unemployment is still a massive issue that affects a significant number of Americans. A number of factors contribute to this unending state of employment in America, namely, global factors, economic conditions, minimum wage, part-time jobs, and the dynamics of the oil industry.

As the world opens up to trade and business opportunities, a number of issues arise the affect countries either negatively or positively. For instance, offshoring is one of the issues that have arisen due to globalization. Multinational companies among other businesses prefer to outsource services in low-cost labor nations in order to cut on costs. Companies are engaging in offshoring practices both for service jobs and for manufacturing jobs. The driving force behind this conduct is to operate in countries where they can save on labor costs, avoid regulatory laws, and productivity.

Thus, offshoring has greatly affected job creation and availability of jobs in the United States leading to unemployment. According to a report by Forrester Research released in 2004, by 2015, 3.4 million service jobs will be moved abroad during 1.2 million jobs were expected to be offshored between 2003 and 2008 (Levine, 2011). Additionally, according to Bureau of Labor of Statistics estimates one-fifth of workers in the United States were working in industries subject to offshoring. An example of multinational company that has actively engaged in offshoring practice is Apple.

As of 2012, Apple had 20,000 workers based in other countries and 43,000 workers in America. Additionally, the 700,000 engineer who develop Apple’s products by