Within the past decades unemployment has raised many
problems and is hard to find solutions for. But for men who graduated high
school between 1982 and 86, their unemployment has a lot to do with bad timing.
Men who graduated during this time period entered their prime working years in
a period of slow growth in 1994. Only 83.3 percent of men between the ages of
25 and 29 were working. Now a decade later we are coming across the same problem.
The government came out with a report that again only 83.3 percent of 25-29
year olds were working. This is do partially to the recession in 2009. Within the
last 5 years employment has increased modestly but still remain low. According to
the congressional budget office it is because the erosion of skills associated with
long-term unemployment are preventing a growing number of people from returning
to work.
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/07/employments-decline-for-men-of-all-ages/?ref=economy
Losing skills due to long-term unemployment is a serious problem that I think the government should look at amending into its policies regarding unemployment. The creation of jobs shouldn't be the only goal in decreasing unemployment, rather the government should not only help those out of work get a job but also retain said job for the foreseeable future.
ReplyDeleteI think the increase in women who are going to college and graduating degrees is alot greater then it was in the past there are more women being hired today then there has been in the past which may be a reason men's unemployment is growing do to increased competition. I do agree though that the government should not only focus on creating more jobs but also offering individuals ways to maintain their skills or create new skills as the job industry moves foreword.
ReplyDeleteIt seems rather challenging to help people retain their skills if they suffer unemployment due to the effects of the business cycle. While these people are unemployed and their skills are eroding, there are others entering the fray with newer skills and firms would prefer them over the 'effectees' of the business cycle. While I agree that the government should do something to help them, I just cannot seem to see what they could do.
ReplyDeleteThis seems to make a lot of sense. I would also like to see a comparison of men's employment to women's employment rates. This would show an overall economy picture and possibly not sway the interpretation of the data. Overall the job market is tough so there would be high unemployment and the data being presented since the beginning of the year may be skewed do to people leaving the workforce after so long and changes in the unemployment benefits.
ReplyDeleteThe US is continually seeing an increase in individuals achieving undergraduate and graduate degrees as well as other credentials due to the advances in our education system and the growing accessibility to higher education. As our labor force becomes more educated the competition for jobs has raised dramatically. The BLS survey on earnings and unemployment rates by educational attainment shows that the unemployment rate digresses as educational attainment is increased. The article states that “The obvious explanation, of course, is that no one is willing to hire them”. I argue that it is not employers being less willing to hire new entry’s in the labor force, rather new entry’s into the labor force cannot easily find jobs due to the increased competition for jobs in the labor force. I agree that the erosion of skills associated with long-term unemployment is an issue, however I do not think this issue is directly at the fault of employers. The labor force is growing (in January the labor force grew by 499,000 people), raising the participation rate and so I wonder if the problem may be more due to a new surplus of labor that the labor market is not ready for.
ReplyDeleteOther sources: http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-02-07/the-labor-market-is-cooling-off-and-its-not-just-the-weather#r=nav-f-story