Unemployment as a great social problem - Essay Example

?Insert Insert Grade Insert 5th December Unemployment as a Great Social Problem Unemployment is a common problem in many countries of the world currently. Employment is considered a means through which people get to acquire social and financial security. This ensures that employees are in a position to secure their needs and to attract others who depend on them. The needs of people are met mostly through monetary power a person may have. Mostly, people get this money through employment; whether self-employment or by doing labor for another person or institution or organization. Through employment and the money gotten through it, person rise to occupy some status in the society. The issues of unemployment deprives the affected these privileges and social opportunities. This circumstance leave the people affected under a lot of pressure to sustain themselves as well as their dependents. In some countries, the unemployed within a specific age bracket are given by their government some money as unemployment benefits. These benefits serve to reduce the intensity of the effects of the pressure posed to these people by unemployment. In this work, I will look at the issues that surround unemployment as a major social problem. I will analyze the issues that indicate unemployment as a problem to the people as well as those issues that serve as a consolation to the unemployed. Towards the end of the work, I will give my opinion about my position regarding the issue of unemployment. I believe that unemployment is a greater problem both economically and socially. This is because the issue does not only involve the people who are unemployed but also the people who are working to sustain the unemployed. The consideration of the people who lack jobs make the issue look negligible but if analyzed economically, it indicates a serious problem. First, unemployment means under-utilization of labor. This means that the labor that could be used to produce more commodities is kept in potential form. This implies reduction in production. On the other hand, looking at the production in terms of inputs and outputs, there is a great difference between the two. This is because a lot is put to sustain the unemployed people while little is gotten from them (Jakimovski 74). Unemployment does lead to social exclusion. This means that in terms of distribution of social resources, some individuals are left out. This means that the people who lack employment are not only victims of lack of basic needs but also are incapacitated in becoming competitive in obtaining resources that could empower them. Once these people lack means to empower themselves, they become a liability to the society. These people extend their dependence to other people who could be employed and earning. In this way, these people become a burden to the society which is forced to provide for them. When the nation is left at that position, the working population is over exploited. This is because they are pressured to produce for their use and for the people who depend on them. This exclusion affects the issue of consumption of cultural materials within a society. In essence, unemployment makes a person to fail to enjoy the provision that the environment offers to them. The unemployment causes social segregation in a harmonized society (Sucur et al. 27). Unemployment has the same effects like poverty as it forms components of social exclusion and isolation. Employment and unemployment places people in different social status which mostly makes the people rarely to work together. This shows that unemployment is not as a small social problem as it can be perceived (Sucur et al.32). Unemployment should be looked at from the perspective of the other problems that come in association. In this way, its place as a social problem will be clear. This is because these effects are hardly separable with unemployment. Examples of such problems include health, long-term harm to the lives of children and social division. These problems are not easily brought by lack of adequate resources. For example, in terms of health, poor people are subjected to conditions that make them to fail to access medical services. Consequently, there are many deaths that are experienced as a result of lack of capability to access medical services. Unemployment should be viewed from the effects on children manifests a major threat to their lives. The reason is that because of poverty, their parents are not capable of acquiring resources that the children need for good growth. Unemployment should be viewed from the perspective of the stress through which these children go through in their families and the influence this has on their behavioral and social adjustment (McClelland and Macdonald. 1-2). The fact that some governments in the world have programs that give unemployment benefits to the people who are not working serves as a consolation to the people affected. In these countries such as Netherlands, people within a certain age bracket are entitled to some money if they qualify in some levels. This is a great step in minimizing the pressure the unemployed group experience. This ensures that all the people will be involved in social activities without segregation. The unemployed are empowered to exploit economic resources that make them productive. The people that receive this money are made to access social resources as education and health. In that way, they are able to take care of their children and provide them with their basic needs (Bekker and Lanting 2-3). When these people are given these benefits, they are left to survive on these provisions. This promotes their competitiveness in looking for resources and providing what is required for their families. The worst thing about the above strategy of empowering the people is that it does not increase productivity. Looked at from economic perspective, the input is left constant according to the number of people who are engaged in production while the output is higher since the products of labor are shared among more than the number of people engaged in production. The unemployment benefit leaves the people who are working with a bigger burden to keep the nation running. This can be implied because national produce is shared to people who have not done anything to contribute to the production. The problem of unemployment can be mitigated by enhancing the ability. This is because when individuals are in the position of producing, they can contribute to the economic growth of a state. In addition to this, these people will be able to make choices. In Sweden, the increasing rate of unemployment was curbed by ensuring the youths are given abilities that can make them easily adapt to the market. To ensure that people are able to make some money, the government of Sweden suggested boosting entrepreneurship. This will ensure people are in a position to cause economic impact to their nation. They will be engaged in many activities that will cause the output of labor to rise (Kieselbach et al. 29). Analyzing the problem of unemployment by focusing on the affected only produces results that show that it is a normal problem in the lives of the people. The analysis, however, should be extended to touch all the people that are not directly involved but living in the same area. The analysis of effects of unemployment should be made from the economic perspective and social perspective. In this way, the analysis will uncover the issues that are related to the unemployment and the influence they have. It is quite inadequate to use the method of unemployment benefits and assume to have done any work in reducing the pressure of unemployment. This is because as much as pressure is reduced on those who are not working; the people who are working are forced to work more to produce for themselves and for the jobless. The dimension of looking at the means to address unemployment should not be singled out on those who have no jobs but should be addressed as a national matter which incorporate all people in that nation. This will bring an understanding that unemployment is not the problem of the jobless but also those who are sharing similar environment. Works Cited Bekker, Sonja and Lanting, Linda. “EEO Review: Adapting unemployment benefit systems to the economic cycle., 2011,Web. 5th Dec 2012 Jakimovski, Jorde. “Unemployment as a Complex and Serious Personal and Social Issue.” 2010, Web. 5th Dec 2012 Kieselbach, Thomas; van Heeringen, Kees; La Rosa, Michele; Lemkow Zetterling, Louis; Sokou, Katerina; and Starrin, Bengt. “Youth Unemployment and Social Exclusion: Objective Dimensions, Subjective Experiences, and Institutional Responses in Six European Countries (YUSEDER).” 2006, Web. 5th Dec 2012 McClelland, Alison and Macdonal, Fiona. “The social consequences of unemployment.” 1998 Web. 5th Dec 2012 Read More