Essay on Unemployment
The three basic needs of human beings are - food, home and clothing. All these needs can be properly fulfilled only if a person has money. And to earn this money, the person must be employed, that is, he or she must have a paid occupation. However, there are many people in the world and our country too who have failed to secure a job. As a result, they have an insignificant source of income. This state of joblessness is called unemployment.
Why Unemployment is a Serious Issue?
To live a dignified life, people need to earn money and fulfil their basic needs. Unemployment snatches this right from them and their standard of life gets degraded.
The lack of money due to unemployment leads to the lack of nutritious food. The health of the unemployed is bound to deteriorate. The children of unemployed people cannot get the proper diet. Hence, they suffer from various illnesses. Their quality of life reduces drastically over time.
An unemployed parent cannot give proper education to his child. As a result, the child too will not be able to get a good job once he grows up. Thus, unemployment breeds unemployment.
Unemployment and Social Instability
An unemployed person is open to doing socially unacceptable work to get money. Thus, very often in a society where there are a huge number of unemployed people, there will be a great proliferation of thieves, snatchers, bank-robbers and much more serious anti-social elements.
Covid-19 & Unemployment in India and the World
In March 2020, India entered into lockdown to stop the spread of Coronavirus. While the lockdown was effective, hundreds of people got jobless because of the prolonged shutdown of the offices. The unemployment rate has climbed up to 27.1% in April. Sure, once the offices are opened, this rate will come down. However, this grim scenario will haunt us for at least one year.
The situation in other countries is the same. 30 million people in the US have filed unemployment claims. The unemployment rate, there, is 14.7%. In the UK the number of unemployment claims has shot up by 70%.
How Can We Come Out of The Muck?
1. Self-Dependence
As the Prime Minister of India proclaimed, the Indians need to be self-dependent. We need more vocational training. Gone are the days when being employed meant being an engineer or a doctor. A farmer is an employed person. He produces his food and that of the others. There is no shame in being a farmer. We have to stop depending on foreign countries for IT work - Let us open more startups. Why do we depend on China for Diwali firecrackers or Holi colors - We can make them ourselves. Self-help is the best help.
2. Shifting The Manufacturing To India
To create more jobs, India needs to make more manufacturing hubs in the country. Let us not just assemble the Smartphone parts, let us scour the mineral-rich country and take out silicon to make circuit boards.
3. Educating The Women
There is a real connection between the lack of education and unemployment. To educate the children of the country, we first need to educate the women of the country. Only then can the children be educated properly.
4. Stopping Politics Based On Religion And Region
Stopping petty politics is the need of the hour. The politicians need to work in a concerted way to make Indians employed.
As Charlie Chaplin said, there is no glory in poverty. Let us not pride ourselves on being compromising. Let us remain hungry for a better life. Let’s get employed.
FAQs on Unemployment Essay
1. What are the types of unemployment prevalent in the world?
Unemployment is a serious issue across the globe and is of four major different types, that is, demand deficient unemployment, frictional unemployment, structural unemployment, and voluntary unemployment.
Demand deficient unemployment: it is the biggest form of unemployment occurring generally during a recession. A recession is a period when the demand for a certain product in the market decreases, and in reaction to that company reduces its production and cuts down on the workforce.
Frictional unemployment: it is a stage of unemployment where the worker by his own will is searching for a job that is more suitable for his/ her skills and also pays him equal to or more than what he was getting in his previous workplace.
Structural unemployment: In this particular unemployment, geographical location acts as a barrier or the skill set of a worker is not following the skills desired by the jobs available in the market.
Voluntary unemployment: this type of unemployment is by the will of the worker because the worker leaves his/ her job on his own because the pay he is getting is less than his cost of living.
2. What are the causes of unemployment?
Unemployment is a global concern across the globe. Unemployment can be due to any possible reason. Unemployment doesn’t need to be from the employer side only, it can even be from the demand side, that is the demand of the product is low, therefore production is reduced due to which the workforce is also cut down. Unemployment is also from the worker side, that is, the current job doesn't pay him well according to his skill set or the current job is not much of his desired skills. In both these cases, the worker himself leaves his job.
3. What is meant by long-term unemployment and short-term unemployment?
Long-term unemployment refers to the phase of unemployment that lasts for more than 27 weeks, that is 189 days. Short-term unemployment refers to a state where the individual is not unemployed for more than a month and gets a new job very quickly. Long-term unemployment is very dangerous as compared to short-term unemployment and has adverse effects on the economic condition of an individual because of obvious reasons. The main effects of long-term unemployment on an employee are:
There is a significant decrease in the net worth reported in almost 56% of the long-term unemployment cases.
Unemployment not only affects the financial status but family relations as well, 46% of the cases of unemployment experienced strained family relationships.
Unemployment also poses an adverse effect on the career growth of individuals. Almost 43% of the long-term unemployed have observed a drastic effect on their ability to achieve their desired career goals.
Apart from financial and effect on career, long-term unemployment also affects the self-respect of individuals that was reported among approximately 38% of cases of long-term unemployment. Out of these 38% cases, 24% cases required professional help to come back to normal.
4. What are the major reasons that cause unemployment?
Unemployment can persist in a country due to many different reasons.
One of the main reasons for unemployment is population growth because an exponential increase in population has given rise to higher rates of unemployment. After all, the number of people looking for a job is increasing but the jobs available in the market are constant or are not increasing significantly as compared to the rate of population growth.
Due to the rapid growth of technology on a global scale, most of the work that was done through human interference is now carried out through machines and technologies. The advancement in technology has completely replaced the unskilled and low-skilled labourers in factories and companies. All factories now prefer technology over labour simply because technologies are more accurate and fast.
Lack of education and desired skills is another major cause of unemployment. Currently, with technologies driving the world, the demand for skilled and educated workers has increased and the employment opportunities for people without adequate education have decreased, raising the unemployment rate of the country.
Also, the rising pay scale sometimes makes it difficult for companies to hire employees and pay them the optimum salary.
5. What are the initiatives taken by the government to deal with increasing rates of unemployment?
The government has taken the issue of unemployment very seriously. There are various programs, schemes, and initiatives taken by the government to deal with this situation efficiently. Some of the schemes started by the government to reduce unemployment are Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP), Drought Prone Area Program (DPAP), Employment Assurance Scheme, Jawahar Rozgar Yojna, Nehru Rozgar Yojna (NRY), Prime Minister’s Integrated Urban Poverty Eradication Program (PMIUPEP), Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojna, employment guarantee scheme, employment exchange, promoting small and cottage industries and development of the organized sector. There are many more schemes launched by the government apart from the ones mentioned here. Also, apart from schemes, the government has launched training for self-employment and skill India program, to help individuals learn skills which can help them in finding a satisfactory job for themselves and their families.