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UNEMPLOYMENT IN US
UNEMPLOYMENT IN US
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Unemployment in the US
Different features and characteristics have characterized unemployment rates in the United States of America. Even though unemployment in the United States of America is low compared to other countries, especially the developing ones, there is still an unemployment rate. It differs whereby some groups have lesser unemployment rates while others have higher unemployment rates. Different societal formations and education cause this. For example, in the film industry, most of the actors are whites. This does not mean that blacks and other ethnic groups are completely excluded. Still, most actors who are whites can be seen as an indicator of employment and unemployment levels within the film industry. Unemployment can be discussed based on ethnicity, gender, age, qualifications & education level, and other causes of unemployment such as lack of experience and voluntary and involuntary types of unemployment.
Race and ethnicity are factors that determine the level of unemployment of a certain race to a very great extent. This means that in the United States of America, the race is a very important part of the unemployment and employment issues. This, however, is not as much as other countries whereby the general rates of unemployment are high than in the United States. For example, there is structural racism in the United States, and even though it has gone down and is not very much pronounced, it still exists among some people and especially white supremacists. This, therefore, means that if a white supremacist owns a business, the level of employing black people in that business as his workers are very few. It also implies that if the white supremacist employs black people, he will be doing so not because he wants to benefit them but because he wants to misuse them. On the other side, some black people also hate whites. It means that their businesses and their places of works might be filled with only black people. It is a societal problem since people from different races need to support one another and help reduce the hatred by making sure each other sees that life is better and good when there is understanding from both sides.
Unemployment due to racism continues to be a big issue. The unemployment rates of whites are the lowest in the United States at 4% in 11 states and the district of Colombia. However, from the whole of the United States, the unemployment rate of whites is at 5.3%. The whites are followed by Asians, whose level of unemployment is 5.6%, with a very slight difference. Hispanics have an unemployment rate of 7.9%, while black Americans or African Americans with an unemployment rate of 9.7%. This clearly shows that there is a problem of balance in the United States. This comes even after so many trials to bring about a racial balance and ensure that every American has access to the resources available within the states and the federal government. Therefore, race remains one very big issue when it comes to unemployment rates since there is a hatred deep inside the different people, especially extremists. It makes it almost impossible for them to accept others in their working fields.
The issue of race does not only make life difficult, but it also creates distinct racial problems or categories. This means that some places only belong to the whites while others only belong to the Asians or blacks, or Hispanics, which brings about segregation and grouping, which is not healthy for the business environment.
Unemployment based on the education level of the individuals is also another issue. This means that eh different people who reached different education levels have different employment levels. For example, those who attained high school education have their unemployment level, high school graduates with no college education have their kind of unemployment level, college education and associate degree, bachelor’s education, and masters and doctorate education level. This kind of unemployment variety also comes along with different salary groups, and therefore different people get different salaries for the jobs they do. This means those who have basic education receive salaries which are in line with their education level, which means it is the lowest or the basic salary set by different states and the federal government. The unemployment rates can also range from those of low education to those with higher education. This can be because of the efficiency with which those with higher education qualifications do their work and perform effectively than those with lesser education.
As of April 2021, the unemployment rate of those with basic education was 9.3%, those with a high school education 6.9%, those with college or associate degree 5.8%, and those with bachelor’s degree 3.5%. This is a clear depiction of how the rate of unemployment reduces with the higher the education level. It is a very important aspect of analyzing and looking at the levels of unemployment in the United States. Therefore the level of education is a big determiner of the rate of unemployment in the United States.
Apart from education level and race, age is also a very big factor in unemployment rates. Age is a very complicated factor because it cuts across the economy, and there are different businesses and works which require older people while others require younger people. However, some businesses decide to hire only young people while others decide to hire only older people with experience. Therefore when it comes to age, so many other factors come into play. One of the major factors is the issue of experience and efficiency. When a business majorly focuses on the efficiency of its workforce and experience, it may end up hiring those older people. However, young people are more flexible, more innovative and more lively, and appealing to customers. Therefore these factors determine how employment and unemployment fluctuate in the United States in terms of age.
In the United States, people between 45 to 60 years have lower unemployment rates than those between 16-24 years. The unemployment level of those between 16-24 is 14.9% which is very high compared with the 6.7% unemployment rate of 45-60 years. Therefore it is true that employers prefer those people who have experience and those who have been working for a long period which assures a person’s ability to deliver within the timelines and also be able to produce quality work as needed by most of the employers. Therefore, it is an important part of looking at the unemployment levels based on age, proving that the older age is more effective in the jobs they are given due to mainly experience.
The gender unemployment rate refers to the unemployment between men and women. This means that if both are at the same level of unemployment, there is a positive unemployment ratio. It also occurs that if women have a lower unemployment rate than men, the ratio is positive. However, if women are more unemployed than men, then the ratio is said to be negative. By March 2020, 4.4% of both men and women were unemployed. However, women’s labor force declined by 3.4% during the year while men had a drop of 2.8%. In southern America, the rate of unemployment between men fell fast than that of women. Therefore, it is difficult to exactly tell how the employment rate of men and women differs. There is very little to compare with women and female gender empowerment since they have almost the same level as men. However, in the past, the level of women’s unemployment was higher than that of men since men were mainly considered the providers in the family. This mainly was in the 18th and part of the 19th century whereby men occupied most of the parts of jobs in the society, and women did not mind about that.
However, of late, there has been a change in this. Therefore men have learned to work along with women. Therefore it isn’t easy to manage without women on board because, in some countries, there are laws set up to protect the rights of women whereby they have to get a certain percentage of employment in companies and firms. This also applies in politics, whereby there has been a push for equality, and this, therefore, more women getting more employment opportunities.
In conclusion, there has been a challenge with the unemployment levels in the United States. Therefore, it is up to the business owners and the federal government to make this lack of uniformity uniform. Once there is uniformity in the levels of unemployment, then there can be social justice. However, this uniformity can only be achieved by using different methods of ensuring that unemployment is done away with in a uniform manner.
Reference
Ashenfelter, O., & Card, D. (1986). Why have unemployment rates in Canada and the United States diverged?. Economica, 53(210), S171-S195.
Ashenfelter, O., & Card, D. (1986). Why have unemployment rates in Canada and the United States diverged?. Economica, 53(210), S171-S195.
Johnson, G. E., & Layard, P. R. G. (1986). The natural rate of unemployment: explanation and policy. Handbook of labor economics, 2, 921-999.
Rothman, P. (1998). Forecasting asymmetric unemployment rates. Review of Economics and Statistics, 80(1), 164-168.
Census COVID-19 Data Hub. (n.d.). Covid19.Census.gov. https://covid19.census.gov/
Survey of Sexual Victimization. (n.d.). Ssv.census.gov. Retrieved May 22, 2021, from https://ssv.census.gov/
Unemployment in Australia
Unemployment in Australia
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TOC o “1-3” h z u Introduction PAGEREF _Toc409140448 h 3Rise in Technology PAGEREF _Toc409140449 h 4Foreign Workers PAGEREF _Toc409140450 h 5Level of Education PAGEREF _Toc409140451 h 7Outsourcing of Products and Services PAGEREF _Toc409140452 h 8Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc409140453 h 10Bibliography PAGEREF _Toc409140454 h 11
IntroductionUnemployment is one of the major economic challenges that many countries are facing today. People, who are considered to be unemployed, are those that have the qualification but have not yet been employed, or those that have been laid off from their work for more than a week. A country with a high rate of joblessness generally lag behind economically as this means that a great percentage of its population make up the dependency ratio, hence may not be productive, a factor that hinders development.
There are three types of joblessness that can be experienced. These are cyclical unemployment, structural and seasonal unemployment. Cyclical unemployment occurs when there is less demand in the economy, and therefore there is a need for less production of goods and services. Consequently, fewer workers will be needed hence resulting to mass unemployment. This unemployment is temporary and depends on the demand rising with the rise in demand for the products and services and falling with the fall in demand.
Structural unemployment comes into place when there is a mismatch of the skills that the unemployed people have and the requirement that is needed in the field. This means that even if there are job vacancies, these people are not fit to fill those vacancies. Seasonal unemployment is linked to certain jobs that are seasonal, such as construction work and fishing. In most cases, this type of unemployment varies with the climate and therefore regions of Australia. In times of winter, industries like fishing industry struggles. Hence, the workers in these industries have to be seasonally unemployed.
According to the Trading Economics (2014), the unemployed rate in Australia has increased to 6.3% by November, 2014, down from 4% in the year 2008. For instance, the number of female employees that were in full term employment had fallen by 21,400 in 2014. The rise in the unemployment rate in Australia can be attributed to the following factors:
Rise in TechnologyWith the birth of the 21st century, technology has developed to an extent that every sector can be easily automated. Industries and other workplaces are increasingly adopting this technology to produce high-quality products and services. This has been to the advantage of the organization in that the increased production has increased the sales, and hence leading to high profits.
On the other hand, the rise in technology has brought about displacement of people from their workplace. A single machine can perform a task that initially required an effort of many employees. This brings about a cheaper substitute and hence the organizations have resolved on adopting machines and lay down workers. Some people may be employed to operate these machines, but when the number of employees being fired and those being hired is compared, the number of employees fired much far surpasses those being employed. This has created massive unemployment in Australia.
From the graph below, the technology level has been rising since as time goes by. By the year 1984 when the level of technology was lower compared to other years, the rate of employment was high (when other factors like the level of education of the prospectus employees are held constant) and the rate of unemployment was lower compared to subsequent years. However, as the level of technology rises, machines are replacing human labor and hence the level of employment has gone down to 4.5% in the year 2000.
Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 1: Relationship between technology growth and employment rate. Source: Trading Economics
Foreign WorkersGlobalization and free trade have seen a large number of foreign workers reside and work in Australia. Some of these workers are temporary while others are permanent workers. A research conducted by Kauppi, Koskela and Stenbacka (2004) indicated that foreign workers demand cheaper pay as compared to Australian nationals. This has resulted in these workers taking up almost all the jobs hence rendering the Australian workers unemployed. This has been additionally backed up by the Australian government rule in 2014 that allowed easy acquisition of visas for the skilled migrants. Industries were allowed to sponsor workers from outside Australia who have the skills that the company may need. As part of the law, these workers are to be paid a salary that is 10 percent lower than the set threshold salary range. This makes the foreign workers cheaper, and hence becoming a preference for many companies as evidenced by the increasing number of foreign employees in the industries (Kauppi, Koskela and Stenbacka, 2004).
Vandenberghe (2009) has indicated that the number of the foreign worker have been rising steadily as the number of years goes by. In the year 2002, there were 100,000 foreign employees in Australia. However, the number had risen to 280,000 in the year 2009 and 2010, nearly tripling the figure recorded in the year 2002. This indicates that the Australian employees are getting a preference of the foreign workers as evidenced by their rapid increase in the labor force, rendering the Australian workers unemployed.
Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 2: Number of Foreign workers in Australia. Source: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
Level of EducationAcademic qualification is very important for one to get a job in Australia. Most of the jobs need a certain level of education before one can be considered competent to undertake the job. This means that the little education that a person has, the little chance that a person has of getting employed. It is impossible for one to be employed in the white collar jobs with little or no qualification (NCVER, 2014). Those that end up being employed settle in non-skilled and semi-skilled low paying jobs which hardly provide for their needs. However, these jobs too are temporary since one can be sacked easily to pave the way for those that are specialized in the field.
According to the research conducted by National Centre for Vocational Education Research in 2014, despite the presence of a large number of learning institutions and centers, many people are not able to undertake higher education because of the cost associated. Few people make it through to the university to attain a Bachelor’s degree and beyond. This means that a majority attains less than a Bachelor’s degree and hence, if employed, can be easily replaced by a person with a higher qualification. This has rendered many jobless, especially those that lack money to take specialization courses (NCVER, 2014).
On-job training is very important for any employee. It helps shape the experience and specialization in the line of work. In the case where these trainings are sponsored by an individual, it becomes an uphill task for some of the employees due to financial constraints, while some can effectively manage. The result is that with time, those, that did who do not take these specialization studies, fail to cope up with the current issues in the line of work and hence are either fired or denied salary increment.
The statistics are given by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (2014) people with less than a high school qualification are likely to be unemployed, hitting a record mark of 15% in the year 2010. In the same year, persons, who were high school graduates who had not attended any college, recorded 11% unemployment. Holders of less than a Bachelor’s degree recorded 8% unemployment while those with a Bachelor’s degree and higher had 5% rate of unemployment. This clearly shows that the rate of unemployment is directly affected by the level of education people have(NCVER, 2014).
Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 3: Unemployment rate by education level in Australia. Source: National Centre for Vocational Education Research
Outsourcing of Products and ServicesOver the recent years, companies and other employers have developed a preference for having their jobs done outside the company as opposed to having workers do the job within the company. A company or an Individual located outside the company can be allocated to produce a certain product or service. This is because the services offered may be cheaper than setting up a group of workers to undertake the task, or sometimes setting up the whole department for such production. This renders people jobless as their jobs are taken by some external workers.
In his book, Cromie (2013) indicates that outsourcing product or a certain service may result in massive unemployment of the employees who were previously involved in the production of such goods and services. The human resource department cannot hire new staff to the departments whose services have been outsourced, hence lowering the employment vacancies. Also included are the investments that the Australian companies have invested abroad. Hence, the Australian citizens are not able to benefit directly from the employment opportunities that could have been offered by these companies. This has escalated the unemployment (Cromie, 2013).
The State Library of South Wales (2010) indicate that millions of jobs have been outsourced by the Australian employees, and the level of outsourcing has been on the rise. For instance, 0.3 million of jobs (0.6% of the total jobs in Australia) were outsourced, while 1.2 million jobs were outsourced in 2008. With the same trend, it is estimated that by the end of the year 2015, 3.5 million jobs will be outsourced, an equivalent of 6% of the total jobs in Australia. This means that some of the employees will have to be fired because of outsourcing (SLNSW, 2010).
Figure SEQ Figure * ARABIC 4: Number and percentage of Australian jobs being outsourced. Source: State Library of New South Wales
ConclusionUnemployment has remained on the rise in Australia. People are losing their jobs while fewer people are getting employed. Many reasons have been attributed to this increased rate of unemployment and among them is the adoption of modern technology. This has replaced many workers since sophisticated machines can perfom work that would have been done by many employees. Outsourcing has seen the job done outside the company, hence rendering individuals or sometimes the whole department jobless. The level of education has directly affected the employment of individuals, where some are not able to afford the cost associated hence remain unemployed, or entitled to low wages. The issue of employment needs to be addressed for a country to make any economic progress.
BibliographyAUSTRALIA, & NATIONAL CENTRE FOR VOCATIONAL EDUCATION RESEARCH (AUSTRALIA). (2014). Australian vocational education and training statistics: students and courses 2010. Adelaide, S. Aust, NCVER.
CROMIE, J., & ZOTT, L. M. (2013). Outsourcing. https://basalt.marmot.org/Record/.b37949767
STATE LIBRARY OF NEW SOUTH WALES, MACROPLAN AUSTRALIA, & LIBRARY COUNCIL OF NEW SOUTH WALES. (2010). A benefits cost analysis: outsourcing of acquisitions, cataloging, and processing in NSW public libraries. Sydney, N.S.W., State Library of New South Wales. http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4808349VANDENBERGHE, V. (2009). Australia. Paris, OECD. http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=437759.WILLIAMS, T., & TURTON, V. (2014). Trading economics: a guide to economic statistics for practitioners and students. http://download.e-bookshelf.de/download/0002/5216/12/L-G-0002521612-0003712129.pdf
Understating Human resource management
Understating Human resource management
Contents
TOC o “1-3” h z u 1. What is human resources management? PAGEREF _Toc386030120 h 12. What are the challenges facing human resources management (HRM) today? PAGEREF _Toc386030121 h 13. What are both constitutional and legal rights of employees and employers? PAGEREF _Toc386030122 h 14. What are the differences between the civil service and the merit system? PAGEREF _Toc386030123 h 25. Discus why strategic job analysis is important for organizations to remain competitive. How important are strategic job analysis for strategic human resources management activities? PAGEREF _Toc386030124 h 25. Discus strategic recruiting considerations your organization or an organization you may have worked for in the past should address and why. PAGEREF _Toc386030125 h 36. Compare and contrast the environmental forces that influence HRM in both public and non-profit sectors. PAGEREF _Toc386030126 h 4
1. What is human resources management?Human resources management is a managerial process undertaken by an organization to control the activities of its workforce (Jack, 2003, p.45). This process is responsible for the attraction, selection, training, and assessment and also rewarding of the employees. This department in an organization provides the direction to be taken by the people in the organization. It is also responsible for the performance appraisal of the workforce and taking the necessary action according to the findings.
2. What are the challenges facing human resources management (HRM) today?Human resource management faces a myriad of hitches that act as a hindrance to its success. One of the greatest nightmares facing it is the inadequacy of funds used for training. Recognition of human resource management is also a problem. Presence of worker formed trade unions also poses a threat to human resource management (Conaty and Ram, 2011, p.78). Work ethics is also another problem faced by HRM. Limited research work in human resource management is also a shortcoming faced by HRM.
3. What are both constitutional and legal rights of employees and employers?Various laws are enacted to govern the relationship between the employees and the employers ensuring that no party goes on the losing side. These laws provide both parties with almost similar rights. This law allows the employees to form unions which fight for their rights. Both employers and employees are also allowed to engage in activities such as; strikes, picketing and seeking injunctions to have their lawful wishes fulfilled (Harold and Robert, 2008, p.45).
4. What are the differences between the civil service and the merit system?Civil services in most countries are similar. There exist some differences in the processes of appointment and promotion between the civil service and the merit system. Most civil services appointments and promotions are done on a political basis. The appointments are done by the executive arm of the government mainly relying heavily on the political affiliation of the candidates. On the other hand, merit systems conduct their recruitments as well as promotions impartially and mainly depend on the merit of the candidates (Merkle, 2009, 46). Most civil services have an outlined structure of ascension while in the merit system; ascension depends on the individual effort.
5. Discus why strategic job analysis is important for organizations to remain competitive. How important are strategic job analysis for strategic human resources management activities?Strategic job analysis is a comprehensive process that is carried out by Human resource departments in organizations. It is a very vital process for any organization so as to maintain its competitiveness in the market. It is a process that seeks to specify the tasks performed as well as the knowledge, skill and abilities and characteristics which are vital in performing those tasks in a given job. This analysis is very dependent on any future prediction of any modifications and changes in a given job. The analysis also recognizes the potential volatility faced by organizations resulting from influences such as technological advancements as well as competition in the market (Harold and Robert, p.76). These influences force some changes to be effected in the nature of work performed. Therefore, the changes may lead to further training of the workforce to ensure they are in line with the current trends in the market.
Strategic job analysis is vital for a number of reasons in ensuring that the firm maintains competitiveness in the market. One of the major reasons of job analysis is to ensure that each position in the organization maintains its relevancy towards the set objectives and is in line with any external changes. It is also a critical component of strategic solutions in any organizations that requires maintaining its competitiveness. This is because it assists in the evaluation and determination of how the human resources will be used in an organization (Bob, 2007, p.237). Job analysis also facilitates the definition of the success factors of the company’s personnel and hence ways are devised on how to maintain those strengths. It also facilitates establishment of loopholes that require sealing to enhance on the success. It also enables defining of roles and assigning them to the fit personnel.
5. Discus strategic recruiting considerations your organization or an organization you may have worked for in the past should address and why.A number of factors should be put into consideration when the workforce in an organization is being recruited. Human resource development has to follow the right techniques to ensure that the Human resources management department goes about finding the right candidate who occupies and fills the niche in a given position in the organization. These techniques are not just about posting requirements on jobsites and dailies and conducting interviews but entails selection of the rightful employees who are going to effectively take the roles assigned to them and enabling the company to attain its set objectives. Therefore it is necessary to set strategies that give a clear direction and description of the kind of employees that the organization requires ensuring that even junior officers in the human resource management can make the right choice in recruiting new personnel into the organization (Schliemann, 2012, 345).
The main recruitment consideration should be qualification. The required qualification, abilities and skills required to hold a given position in an organization should be first evaluated. This would give an overview of what is expected of the successful candidate. The second consideration would be the analysis of the roles. Before the conduction of any recruitment process, the Human resources management should evaluate the validity and importance of any post they are recruiting for (Braton and Gold, 2009, p.478). They should be able to clearly and precisely give a comprehensive description of the roles attached to that position. The other strategy should be evaluation of the flexibility of the recruits. This ensures that the workforce can endure changes that occur frequently in the working environment hence maintain the competitiveness of an organization.
6. Compare and contrast the environmental forces that influence HRM in both public and non-profit sectors.Various environmental factor influence human resources management in all organization. In both public and non-profit sectors they occurs similarities in this factors as well as differences. To both sectors the human resources management processes are very vital to their success.
For sector, the public and non-profit, HRM is greatly influenced by the personal qualification (Conaty and Ram, 2011, p.95). This implies that all the recruitments as well as the promotions are based on the personal qualification of the candidates. This means that every person who is inducted into any position must have the necessary skill and abilities to work in that capacity. To both sectors, the HRM environmental factors are not static, they constantly change. Legislation also influences all Human resource activities in both sectors. Internal policies and procedures impact on HRM practices.
On the differences, competition within public sector has less impact on HRM practices as it is in the private sector. Most of the HRM practices in the public sector are politically instigated unlike in the non-profit sector where merit is always considered (Bob, 2007, 234). Due to the economies of scale, the public sector is able to withstand the economic environmental factors that affect HR.
References
Bob N. (2007). 1001 ways to reward employees. Journal of HR. Volume 7(3). Page 24-56.
Braton J. and Gold Jeff. (2009). Human resource management. London: Macmillan.
Conaty B. and Ram C. (2011). The talent masters: why smart leaders put before peoples numbers. New Jersey: Crown publishing.
Dave U. (2010). HR from the outside in: six competencies for the future of human resources. New York: Ashgate.
Harold J. and Robert M. (2008). Human resource management. Cengage Learning.
Jack F. (2003). How to measure human resource management. New Jersey: Bradley Publishing.
Merkle J. (2009). Management and ideology. California: University of California Press.
Schliemann W. (2012). The ace advantage: How smart companies unleash talent for optimal performance. California: SHRM.