Unemployment and Lack of Economic Opportunity Analysis Essay (Essay Sample)

Unemployment and Lack of Economic Opportunity
Student's Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course
Instructor
Date
Unemployment and Lack of Economic Opportunity
Unemployment and lack of vital skills for economic opportunities, especially among the youth, remains a major issue globally. Even though unemployment affects all people within society, the impacts are not equally distributed. Elevating poverty certainly will entail reducing income inequality within the community to offer equal access to opportunities such as in education and the labor market. Joblessness is a situation that occurs when individuals lack economic opportunities, forcing them to seek employment actively. Economic disruptions like the ones caused by Covid-19 significantly heighten unemployment rates. Without a doubt, unemployment results in devastation and mental health issues, eroding the extent to which a person acknowledges earned entitlement (Barr et al., 2016). For this reason, it is vital to conduct further studies to determine the way individuals should view the current economic and political systems for efficient employment. Lack of economic opportunities and unemployment has affected most countries, and, as such, there is a need to change the way corporations conduct businesses and their hiring processes, rather than just creating jobs.
Plum, A., & Knies, G. (2019). Local unemployment changes the springboard effect of low pay: Evidence from England. Plos One, 14(11). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0224290
Indeed, extensive debates have been held on whether employment and earnings should be improved for those getting nominal wages or unemployed. In this case, the authors of the article strive to conduct a study to differentiate between these two notions. Further, the authors conducted the study in England, where results revealed that the forthcoming unemployment risks would be lesser for those presently on low payrolls than those who have no jobs. While many people insist that lack of opportunities is undesirable in the modern world, the argument is still prevalent on whether any kind of employment is better than being unemployed.
The relationship between income prospects, unemployment rates, and employment affects long-term unemployed individuals mainly. For this reason, the authors argue that human capital often deteriorates within the unemployed spell, and the possibility of acquiring opportunities is lower in this case. According to Plum and Knies (2019), developing potential solutions to this global societal issue will incorporate the enaction of policies that aim to increase job security. Most importantly, implemented policies place must limit zero-hours contracts to support career advancements and skills improvement.
Brand, J. (2015). The far-reaching impact of job loss and unemployment. Annual Review of Sociology, 41, 359–375. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-071913-043237
This article mainly focuses on the impacts of unemployment and job loss on the worker's life trajectories. Notably, much of the research has focused on the economic outcome of unemployment. In this regard, employees can be fired due to the company's downsizing or closure. Also, an individual may be unemployed because of their health condition. In such a case, joblessness is initiated by the employee. Job insecurity results in loss of income, reducing individual chances of survival, for instance, in the U.S. where unemployment is common within the labor markets in technological and trade sectors (Brand, 2015). The recessions creating unemployment have compelled governments to utilize the available resources to empower people, rather than shifting production to the modern plants that often lay off workers. Even though not all people could be employed in firms, there is a need to adopt quasi strategies to monitor the fired individuals' well-being.
The authors of this article strongly argue that economic disturbances have been the leading cause of unemployment, increasing attention to the issue worldwide. Curbing this problem will involve all stakeholders in the community to create equal chances and improve the overall savings. Even though there are opinions that re-employment could reduce the negative impacts of lack of opportunities, there are high chances that the effects are not eliminated. For this reason, more research could be vital in identifying the psychological and economic impacts of job loss in the future.
Pettis, M. (2019). Wealth should trickle up, not down. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved 8 December 2020, from https://carnegieendowment.org/chinafinancialmarkets/79338.
Income inequality has been the leading cause of degrading economic growth and debt increase in most countries. Likewise, the high-income inequality results in increased unemployment, undermining financial health for both the advanced and the developing states. This article largely contributes to the research topic as a global societal issue, stipulating that lack of opportunities not only does it hurts the lower class within the community but also the wealthy. Michael Pettis supports his notions by providing a historical context of the economic trickle clampdown in the late 1920s, where inequalities and lack of job opportunities undermined economic development (Pettis, 2019). The author further denotes that the impact of unemployment on the lower class within the society ultimately affects the wealthy individuals. Noticeably, this article indicates that the entire economy is negatively impacted by unemployment, regardless of whether a country is advanced or developing.
Indeed, high savings increase development in a state where the economy witnesses decreased investments. The author offers a solution to this global societal issue, arguing that saving income that would have been consumed accelerates economic growth, creating immense wealth even for the poor population. Increasing savings will incorporate the reduction of income inequality and creating more job opportunities.
Barr, A., Miller, L., & Ubeda, P. (2016). Moral consequences of becoming unemployed. Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences, 113(17). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1521250113
Given the devastating impacts of unemployment and lack of opportunities, the issue is closely linked with people's mental fitness and well-being. In this article, Barr, Miller, and Ubeda (2016) suggest that unemployment can result in health issues, affecting one's mental fitness and behaviors. The authors conducted studies where jobless and employed individuals are exposed to behavioral experiments. The results showed that unemployment directly impacts individual acknowledgment of earned entitlement. Notably, this is a vital aspect underpinning a market-motivated society. Most importantly, the authors suggest that further studies must be undertaken to identify ways in which employed people