Introduction
Unemployment is a situation where people are jobless, but they are looking for jobs actively. The rate of unemployment usually increases during the time of economic recession. Over the past few years, the world has experienced a period of an economic slowdown.
Consequently, the rate of unemployment has increased significantly (Duman, 2010). This article reviews the current unemployment situation in the United States and the actions that the Obama administration is taking to improve the situation.
The current state of unemployment in the United States
Over the last decade, the global economy has experienced a period of slow growth, a situation that has led to high rates of unemployment in most countries across the world (Herman, 2012). The United States of America has been affected by this situation, with the unemployment rate reaching its peak in the year 2009 when it reached 10%. In that year, the total number of people who were jobless in the United States was 15,382,000 (Herman, 2012).
The Obama administration has been working tirelessly to ensure that the rate of unemployment goes down. It has been a difficult task for the government, but some positive effects have been noted. The recent statistics indicated that the rate of unemployment in the United States had gone down to 7.6 % in March of the year 2013. 3,640,000 fewer people are now jobless in the US.
For adult men, the rate of unemployment is 6.9%, while the rate of unemployment is 7.0% for adult women. The number of unemployed teenagers is much higher, standing at a rate of 24.2 percent. Comparing the races in the US, blacks lead in unemployment, with the rate of unemployment among them being 13.3%.
They are followed by Hispanics at 9.2% and the whites at 6.7%. In addition, the rate of unemployment among Asians in the US was 5.0% in March 2013 (BLS, 2013).
The number of people who have been jobless for over 6 months had fallen to 4.6 million people, representing a percentage of 39.6%. Further, the labor force participation had also decreased as it stood at 63.3%. Employment population ratio was at 58.5%.
The number of people who were working during part-time due to lack of a better alternative (fulltime job) was 7.6 million. Finally, as of March of the year 2013, the number of people who had no hope and were not looking for a job anymore was 803,000 (BLS, 2013).
What the Obama administration/Congress is doing to reduce the high level of unemployment
The Obama administration has been working towards reducing the rate of unemployment in the United States. President Obama’s administration has instituted various programs that are aimed at reversing the current situation (Selden, Thompson & Schimmoeller, 2013). One of the programs that the administration has implemented is the stimulus bill that was passed by Congress in the year 2009.
This program was not very effective since the rate of unemployment continued to soar. In fact, it is during that year that the level of unemployment rose to a whopping 10%. While there are some Republicans who have criticized this bill, citing it as wasteful and ineffective, the Democrats have supported it claiming that it has increased the level of employment by over 1 million.
The primary aim of the stimulus bill, which is also referred to as the ‘American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)’, was to create jobs. The Act aimed at providing relief to the hardest hit by the recession. Further, it was expected that there would be increased investment in infrastructure as a result of the enactment of the Act. The bill was also to expand employment benefits to US citizens (Campolieti, 2012).
In the year 2010, both the Democrats and the Republicans voted for a bill that was aimed at preventing teachers, police officers, and fire- fighters from being laid off. The bill was to provide $10 billion to prevent the lay-offs. The President has also unveiled a bill known as the American Jobs Act, whose main aim is to create more jobs for Americans. The Act aims at increasing employment and disposable income for the Americans.
This Act has been supported by both the Democrats and the Republicans. Other measures that have been put in place to deal with the current rate unemployment include the payroll tax rates and the tax breaks for manufacturers, which are aimed at increasing domestic production and increase jobs (Thakkar & Sands, 2011).
Conclusion
The rate of unemployment in the United States has been highest compared to any other time in history. The poor economic situation has been the major reason why unemployment has increased. Many people have been laid off from their jobs, while many others have not been able to secure jobs.
The rate of unemployment has, however, gone down to 7.6% in the year 2013 compared to 10% in the year 2009. The Obama administration has put in place a number of programs aimed at reverting the current trend, and these programs are working.
References
BLS (2013). The Unemployment Situation – 2013. Bureau of Labor Statistics U.S. Department of Labor. Web.
Campolieti, M. (2012). The Canada-US unemployment rate gap: A new look with a new decomposition for cross-country differences in unemployment rates. Canadian Public Policy, 38(3), 411-435.
Duman, A. (2010). Risks in the labor market and social insurance preferences: Germany and the USA. International Journal of Social Economics, 37(2), 150 – 164.
Herman, D. (2012). The missing movement: a Polanyian analysis of pre-crisis America, International Journal of Social Economics, 39(8), 624 – 641.
Selden, S., Thompson, R. M., & Schimmoeller, L. (2013). The influence of high performance work systems on voluntary turnover of new hires in U.S. state governments. Personnel Review, 42(3), 4-4.
Thakkar, B. S., & Sands, S. K. (2011). Influence of NAFTA on current US economy. Perspectives on Global Development & Technology, 10(1), 143-155.