Unemployment in Third World Countries - Assignment Example

______________________ Assignment Your answer Points Indicate the countries chosen (they should be countries other than Hong Kong and Singapore since these have already been addressed, and the economic concern which have been researched for this assignment. Type your answer and explanation here. Country 1: Vietnam Country 2: Philippines Area of concern (variable chosen) and reason for choice of that variable: Unemployment Apart from being classified as developing or "third world" countries, both Vietnam and the Philippines belong to the list of nations having the highest population below the poverty line (Nationmaster). On the surface, this means that many people from these two countries are not capable of meeting their own and family's basic needs (i.e., food, clothing, shelter) on a daily basis. It follows that these people may not be earning sufficient income to support themselves or they may not be earning any income at all. Examining unemployment levels is one important way of looking at the reason behind the reported high poverty levels in a country. The unemployment level for this purpose shall refer to the number of non-working (and therefore unproductive) individuals who are of working age (usually 15 years old and above). The number of people in a given population without jobs indicates the type of labor force the country has. Unemployment rates may invoke questions such as "Why aren't there enough jobs for everyone of working age" "Are there not enough business enterprises or investments in the country that contribute to job creation" or "If there are available jobs, why aren't the people employed" "Do people choose not to work at all" or "Are there issues in literacy and education as well" In addition, trends in unemployment levels may indicate how a country is progressing in terms of its growth and development. Since Vietnam and the Philippines are still in their developing stages, the unemployment level could be an important indicator of how well and how fast they are achieving their development goals. In summary, a country's unemployment rate may provide a lot of insights on its economic growth and development. 10/10 2. What is the relationship between thevariable you have chosen and the economy. Explain the basis for your answer. High unemployment rates could only mean two things: either job seekers could not be given the jobs they are looking for or people simply do not want to work, that is, participate in the labor force. Given the status of the two countries chosen for this assignment as being underdeveloped and having large populations under the poverty line, it is highly unlikely that people in these two nations would not want to work and earn income at all. The latter type of situation is more likely to occur in highly developed countries wherein governments can provide for substantial subsidies for their citizens living allowances. In the case of Vietnam and the Philippines, both countries barely have enough financial resources to offer free education to the public, much less to provide for the daily needs of their poor. Thus, unemployment in this context shall be focused on not having enough jobs for qualified job seekers. A country's economy is usually gauged as positive or negative in terms of what goods and services it produces, how much of these are actually produced, how these goods and services are produced and for whom and how production rates can grow over a period of time. Simply put, a country's economic growth largely depends on its capacity to produce. Productivity in turn is influenced or affected by the availability and utilization of capital, natural resources and the labor force, among others. In order to produce goods and services, there must be work involved in the process and work is done by skillful and knowledgeable workers, which constitute the labor force. Thus, all things being equal, if more people are able to work, more goods and services may be produced and if there is a constant increase in the number of people who work, steady productivity growth may be experienced over a period of time. This in turn translates to positive economic growth. There is, however, the other side of the coin. Economic growth is affected by a multitude of factors such as world oil prices, foreign exchange, international and domestic political issues, and globalization, among others. A country's productivity also depends on how it is adjusting to the effects that these factors bring about. Developing countries such as Vietnam and the Philippines with debt issues need to attract a lot of foreign investments and at the same time provide a conducive business climate to its local entrepreneurs to be able to boost its productivity levels. Thus, if the country is severely hit by an international crisis, for example, the impact on its economic growth could be that many companies are forced to close down resulting to lay-offs and an increase in unemployment rate. As such, if the country is unable to recover from its growth slump, more people would not be able to obtain the jobs they want and hence, would be unable to contribute to the nation's productivity. 25/25 3.. What trends do you see in the data sets Point out the statistical evidence (growth rates, etc.) which support the trends you have indicated. (Paste the data sets that you have fond for your study, at the bottom of this table) The unemployment statistics are relatively straight forward as shown in the tables below. For the general unemployment values, Vietnam's unemployment levels from 1995 to 2004 seem to have experienced a 'see-saw'-like fluctuation. The unemployment numbers would alternately decrease and increase every other year. The rates for unemployed women have been higher during the later periods, especially for the years 2002-04 for the Vietnamese labor force. Furthermore, the rates have been highest in the 20-24 age groups for both men and women, understandably so because this is about the age when one graduates from a four or five year course in tertiary education. The unemployment rates decreased across the higher age groups. Unemployment levels in the Philippines within the same period have increased at a relatively steady rate starting from the year 2000 onwards. Unlike Vietnam, however, there were more jobless men than women across the entire period. The 20-24 age group also exhibited the highest number of unemployed like in Vietnam, but this number tended to be quite high still in the 25-34 age group particularly of men. Overall, the Philippines had higher unemployment rates (in percentages) than Vietnam. 25/25 4. Define, in your own words, the economic terms used in your explanation Productivity refers to the capacity to produce goods and services given limited resources and human capital. Economic growth refers to the rise in productivity levels as a result of effective trade and business activities within and outside a country. It brings about the creation of more jobs and a decrease in unemployment levels. Unemployment rate may be defined as the percentage of people of working age to the population without jobs due to 1) unavailability of jobs or 2) outright refusal to work. 15/15 5. Bibliography (Citation of all sources in APA format: every assignment must have at least one citation. Clearly indicate sources of data sets) Economy: Population below poverty line, 2006. Nation Master. [Online] Available at http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/eco_pop_bel_pov_lin Yearly Data, 2006. International Labor Organization (ILO) Statistics. [Online] Available at http://laborsta.ilo.org/ 10/10 6. Points assigned for appropriateness of data sets on which analysis is based (data sets to be posted at the bottom, after the table.) Data should be placed after the table, and not here. 20/20 6. Points assigned for following template and submission file name requirements 5/5 Total 110/110 Unemployment Statistics VIET NAM Source: (BA) Labour force survey Unemployed (General) Total unemployment 1 2 By Age Group Total men and women 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Total 696.3 1051.1 866.2 908.9 885.7 1107.4 871.0 949.0 926.4 15-19 129.8 195.4 164.8 219.4 178.2 270.0 174.7 176.9 152.6 20-24 165.1 230.5 195.7 263.1 230.3 275.3 220.9 256.8 275.7 25-29 131.7 182.0 144.4 131.0 139.4 166.2 133.2 150.2 146.4 30-34 96.7 133.9 108.7 80.5 93.0 116.7 96.8 101.3 100.4 35-39 67.3 107.0 92.2 69.9 71.5 90.3 81.1 85.2 81.6 40-44 46.4 84.3 69.6 60.7 61.8 67.1 64.2 64.9 68.6 45-49 26.8 56.5 45.3 46.1 40.5 53.7 49.0 60.9 55.2 50-54 15.1 31.4 25.4 18.8 32.1 34.8 31.6 36.5 28.1 55-59 9.5 16.1 12.9 12.2 19.8 19.4 12.4 10.6 13.2 60-64 4.3 9.4 5.5 1.4 7.2 8.1 3.2 4.1 2.3 65+ 3.6 4.6 1.5 5.8 11.9 5.9 3.8 1.5 2.3 Men 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Total 384.3 581.2 456.1 438.6 468.0 457.9 398.0 402.4 409.8 15-19 64.3 101.2 84.3 101.1 88.4 100.0 85.5 87.3 78.8 20-24 93.1 131.9 103.9 114.2 124.1 115.9 106.0 122.0 135.0 25-29 73.6 97.7 72.4 69.5 71.3 80.4 59.9 60.1 61.2 30-34 49.9 70.9 58.4 37.0 45.0 44.7 35.9 31.1 31.3 35-39 37.6 56.2 42.9 33.0 34.8 37.7 33.2 24.3 23.7 40-44 26.9 48.4 40.0 30.8 33.7 28.3 29.0 23.3 29.9 45-49 15.8 31.4 23.8 27.8 24.1 21.7 23.1 25.1 25.8 50-54 9.5 22.3 16.5 10.7 23.7 16.5 15.4 19.4 14.2 55-59 6.9 11.0 8.7 9.2 10.0 8.2 6.7 7.1 7.1 60-64 3.6 7.2 4.1 0.2 3.9 2.9 1.3 2.0 1.4 65+ 3.1 3.0 1.1 5.2 8.9 1.6 2.1 0.7 1.4 Women 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Total 312.0 469.9 410.1 470.3 417.7 649.6 473.0 546.6 516.6 15-19 65.5 94.2 80.5 118.4 89.8 170.0 89.2 89.6 73.8 20-24 72.0 98.7 91.9 148.9 106.2 159.3 114.9 134.8 140.7 25-29 58.1 84.3 72.0 61.5 68.1 85.8 73.4 90.1 85.3 30-34 46.9 63.0 50.3 43.5 48.1 72.0 60.9 70.3 69.1 35-39 29.7 50.8 49.3 36.9 36.7 52.7 48.0 60.9 57.9 40-44 19.5 35.8 29.6 29.9 28.1 38.8 35.2 41.6 38.7 45-49 11.0 25.1 21.5 18.4 16.4 32.0 25.9 35.8 29.4 50-54 5.6 9.1 8.9 8.0 8.4 18.3 16.2 17.1 13.9 55-59 2.5 5.1 4.3 3.0 9.8 11.2 5.8 3.5 6.1 60-64 0.7 2.1 1.4 1.2 3.3 5.2 1.9 2.2 0.9 65+ 0.5 1.7 0.4 0.6 3.0 4.3 1.8 0.8 0.9 Notes: 1July of each year. PHILIPPINES Source: (BA) Labour force survey Unemployed Total unemployment 1 2 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Total 2342 2195 2377 3016 2931 3133 3269 3423 3567 3888 Men 1354 1293 1411 1857 1835 1978 1912 2076 2183 2312 Women 988 902 966 1159 1096 1156 1356 1346 1384 1576 Rates, total 8.4 7.4 7.9 9.6 9.6 10.1 9.8 10.2 10.2 10.9 Rates, men 7.7 7.0 7.5 9.5 9.7 10.3 9.4 10.1 10.1 10.4 Rates, women 9.4 8.2 8.5 9.8 9.3 9.9 10.3 10.2 10.3 11.7 Notes: 1Persons aged 15 years and over. 2Oct. of each year. By Age Group Total men and women 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Total 2342 2195 2377 3016 2931 3134 3269 3423 3567 3888 15-19 425 420 449 609 568 578 566 614 618 661 20-24 661 597 630 794 834 902 923 1002 1009 1081 25-34 578 558 605 743 696 754 814 807 917 990 35-44 268 263 274 344 349 378 387 410 384 438 45-54 179 152 187 247 235 264 296 288 327 365 55-64 134 121 141 166 153 161 172 176 217 243 65+ 99 85 91 111 96 97 111 126 94 111 Men 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Total 1354 1293 1411 1857 1835 1978 1912 2076 2183 2312 15-19 250 239 252 375 346 362 331 359 351 365 20-24 368 326 368 458 490 518 484 586 575 596 25-34 324 338 367 467 451 482 487 476 567 597 35-44 158 162 160 216 226 253 234 260 249 270 45-54 114 97 121 163 163 197 194 207 230 248 55-64 86 80 89 106 108 106 118 119 157 171 65+ 55 52 54 71 51 60 65 69 54 64 Women 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Total 988 902 966 1159 1096 1156 1356 1346 1384 1576 15-19 175 181 197 234 222 216 235 255 267 296 20-24 293 271 262 336 344 384 439 416 434 485 25-34 254 220 238 276 245 272 326 331 350 393 35-44 110 101 114 128 123 125 153 150 134 167 45-54 65 55 66 84 72 67 102 81 97 116 55-64 48 41 52 60 45 55 54 56 60 72 65+ 44 33 37 40 45 37 46 57 40 46 Notes: 1Oct. of each year. 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