From Gulf News on January 14, 2010
http://gulfnews.com/business/economy/us-census-to-give-employment-boost-1.567641
"The government will hire about 1.2 million temporary workers in the first half of the year to (administer census)." This is a perfect short-term recovery for unemployment. The article goes on to talk about how companies should start to hire people towards the middle and end of the year...seeing that the economy has picked up.
The article is right, the hiring of 1.2 million temporary workers can only help the current economy. People need money in their pockets and it will be interesting to see how much things will really change with such a large increase of people working. The real question is whats going to happen when all these people get laid off and go back to being unemployed? Or is this just a short term fix for a long term problem? regardless it is good to see somebody is doing something to try and solve this current issue.
ReplyDeleteTemporary but worth it!
ReplyDeleteThe current unemployment rate is way too high. The number of employment has decreased again in last quarter. This hiring may be just a short-term good news but what it gives is hope or belief that they can work, earn money and spend it. If people can spend money, they coincidently encourage domestic producers to expand production and there are new jobs for unemployed people.
I agree somewhat with this decision. Yes the unemployment rate will decrease and it may increase consumer confidence. It may encourage consumers to spend, which is necessary in order for our economy to rebound from this recession. However, this is only a "short-term stimulus programme", so these workers will only be employed for a short time period. We need to find a resolution that will require firms to hire more workers for the long run.
ReplyDeleteIt is clear that the employment boost facilitated by the US census will highly benefit the American economy. Although, as Taleb has pointed out, this is merely "a short-term stimulus program", yet I think it has huge implications on the future long-term employment rate. The temporary provision of jobs reduces the waiting time between employment for the unemployed; this is certainly a good thing because not having a job for a long period of time may erode some of their skills, making it harder for them to compete for jobs later on. Moreover, the additional amount of money pumped into the economy through this program will result in a multiplier effect, hence further increasing the GDP and creating more jobs.
ReplyDeleteIn the short run, the hiring of 1.2 million temporary workers in the first half of the year is a good solution. Most importantly, it will lower unemployment and boost the economy for the first half of this year. But will this help the economy in the long run? Even with this surge in the short run, companies delay adding staff until they are convinced the economic recovery will be sustained.
ReplyDeleteEven though it is very true that this will help the short run unemployment issue I am not sure that it is the right thing to do thinking about the long run results. The government is going to higher people temporarily which means that they will be laid off eventually so we are just delaying an increase in unemployment. It could be said that this census is a band aid on a bullet wound but at least something is being done to generate short term GDP growth.
ReplyDeleteDefiantly needed. Though this does not provide long term help with high unemployment people who need a job will take anything at this point. Hopefully after these 1.2 million jobs are taken up, the government will provide more short-term jobs to help families in these tough economic times.
ReplyDelete