Introduction
The unemployment rate became a hot topic in the past few months when it rose to
3.5 per cent, a recent high for almost 10 years. The jobless rate was higher
than the 3.2 per cent unemployment rate recorded in the May to July period. The
underemployment rate in the June to August period rose to 2.5 per cent from 2.3
per cent in the May to July period. Until recently, most workers who lost their
jobs were from the manufacturing sector. They were middle-aged factory workers
with few skills and little education. But in recent months a large number of
employees have been laid off in the retail and restaurant businesses.
Unemployment has spilled over to the service sector from manufacturing sector.
Hong Kong is facing a prolonged economic downturn.
The high unemployment rate has raised many social and economic problems. For
example, the number of people who commit suicide is increased. It is because
more people had lost their jobs for a long time. It is a serious threat to the
lives of the poor. The unemployed people may also feel that it is unmeaningful
to live. As a result, they will commit suicide to solve the problem. Moreover,
the high unemployment rate results in the increase of the rate of crime. There
was an unemployed man who stole rice because he was too hungry and he did not
have money to even buy food! We can know how serious the unemployment rate is.
By the way, higher unemployment rate causes lower purchasing power of people. A
lot of kinds of business are affected. Many people lose confidence in economics
of Hong Kong. They do not believe unemployment will be improved. Some say that
the Government should provide immediate assistance for the jobless. Some also
say unemployment is due to the attraction of cheap labor across the border. The
Government can no longer play the role of a bystander.
All of these above show the influence of the unemployment. In spite of how many
people who have talked about the topic of unemployment, everyone will be
concerned about this topic. The following sections will analyze this hot topic.
Reasons for unemployment in Hong Kong
1. Faster growth in total labor supply relative to that of total employment
In 1993 and 1994, the increase in Hong Kong labor force is 2.9% and 3.5%
respectively. At the end of 1993, the total labour supply is 2 970 000. Change
in the total labour supply is determined by the population growth, total
employment and the emigration condition. If the population growth and the total
A key to victory this November is the unemployment rate. According to a Bloomberg National Poll conducted in March 8-11, 42% of Americans consider unemployment and jobs as “the most important issue facing the country right now” (Priorities). Although there has been 24 consecutive months of private sector employment growth, the Federal Reserve suggests that the numbers could fade in the coming months. The importance of creating more jobs cannot be stressed enough. No President in the recent era has been reelected with the unemployment rate above 7.2% (Roth). To paint a picture, in late 1982, the unemployment rate topped 10.8 under Ronald Reagan. However, about 36 months later, the rate dropped to 7.2% percent. The drastic drop in the n...
manufacturing have been vanishing at a fast rate and unemployment percent is on the rise, but
The trends in unemployment affect three important macroeconomics variables: 1) gross domestic product (GDP), 2) unemployment rate, and 3) the inflation rate.
...actually a pretty good number for the economy though it was so long ago. Then during the year of 2010, the unemployment rate actually got worse rising to 10% where it is now 6.60% going down quite a bit.
...he rise, as record numbers of workers have left the workforce due to various impediments to employment, many of which have been brought about by our own government.
Stephen T. Evans (2015) wrote a scholarly article “An evaluation of the unemployment rates of the United States”, which he essentially criticized the government about the unemployment rates and their ignorance to the middle class. In Evans (2015) article, he began by stating the current unemployment rate which was 6.1% in 2014. Evans (2015) wrote, “This rate peaked at 10% in October 2010 and has steadily declined to 6.1% as disclosed on July 3, 2014”(p.157). Then he described how the unemployment rate doesn’t measure discouraged workers, marginally attached, and workers seeking part-time. Evans (2015) stated that 288,000 part-time jobs were added, one the other side 523,000 full-time jobs were lost. He also added a fact that 2.4 million Americans
It is, however, important to note that the higher the numbers of persons are employed within a nation, the higher the purchasing power parity of the people of such a nation increases. After the 2009 global crisis, unemployment levels hit a significant high in the ensuing years as companies worried to push further investments in the market. From 2010 to 2012, unemployment rates stood at 7 per cent to eight per cent (Flanders, 2012). Beginning of 2013 saw a decline in unemployment levels with a further decline evidenced from 6.6 percent to 6.5 percent in 2014. Towards the end of 2014, statistics indicated that around seventy-eight percent of men were employed with the rate of women employed standing at sixty-eight per cent that in total yields a total employment rate of 73.1 percent. Despite the rise in employment levels recorded, businesses failed to register significant benefits with the major cause of failure in consumer spending attributed to low wage growth. With wage rates growth at 0.3%, the level of consumer spending is equally affected that as a result leads to a decline in consumer spending. Furthermore, failure of decline in interest rates affects the level of income with banks the most affected businesses in 2014 (McVey, 2014). The reduced rise in wage rates indicates a decline in consumer spending with savings facing a
The unemployment rate has dramatically increased over the last several months. This increase has created many complications for the American people. Although the United States economy has created over 7 million jobs, there is still a long way to go until the economy is back on track.
Through out the 20th century just 1/3 of the population either had a job or was looking for one. In 1965 it touched record levels where unemployment was hovering at about 38.5%. However this number decreased in the 80s to about 33%-34%.
“The global financial crisis has sharply increased unemployment across the world to more than 210 million people, an increase of over 30 million since 2007, hitting advanced economies especially hard and having long-term social repercussions, including on health and the children of those laid off” (IMF, 2010). This is one of several statements or statistics relating to the negative impacts of the 2008 global financial crisis on employment situation. In general, the unemployment rate, in either developed or developing nations, has grown dramatically in the years following the crisis. While the severely pessimistic signs of labor market have been recorded in the world’s largest economies, those considered as the least and less developed states
Unemployment Rate: The FOMC observed that the labor market conditions had improved considerably. Unemployment rate, which is widely considered as a good economic indicator of labor market has edged down to 5.8% in October and stayed stable in November. Furthermore, this is supported by the fact that the employment-to-population ratio rose slightly. The increase in private sector job openings, decrease in part-time workers and increase in hiring rates further provide concrete evidence that labor markets has improved considerably.
"Canadian Unemployment Rate At 8.4%." HRM Guide. 09 10 2009. HRM Guide, Web. 24 Nov 2009. .
The end of the year 2007 marked the beginning of the great recession. When recession began about 4.9 % of the population had no jobs. Over the years, increase in youth unemployment has been on an increase. By the end of 2008, the worst impacts of recession were eminent. During that year, about 2.6 million people were rendered jobless. This was recorded as the worst hit year in more than 60 years. More than half a million jobs were lost by the end of 2008. In 2009 the rate of unemployment rose to 7%.By last year, the rate had grown to 9.8%. Nevada used to be the best state financially. However, at the moment its unemployment is rated at 14%.
To begin with, it is far more reasonable to believe that unemployment indications here is far different compared to other countries; for one, it is evident that we lack the system of welfare benefits that could aid unemployed people find work. To make matters worse it is alarming to find out that our problem does not only lie ...
Unemployment rates is the number of unemployed people divided by the number of people in the labor force. According to IndexMundi (2018), the unemployment rate of whole world in year 2017 is 7.9%, which was increased 0.6% compare with year 2016.