I’d like to leave you with an Associated Press report published in early October. The figures it uses are a few months old, but it still gives a good overview of the employment situation in 30 countries and more importantly, a bit on how and why the rates arrived at their current levels. I think that a solid knowledge of a country’s economic background helps you understand the reasons for unemployment in that country, and at least fosters awareness of the issue. As far as taking action concerning the job market, I plan to continue to stay updated on the unemployment situation and become more politically active when legislative opportunities that can create more jobs arise. I can prepare myself to fight the odds by honing the skills I will need for my career and doing the best I can in school – no matter how bleak the job market is, education is still the key to attaining ideal and fulfilling work. Some people give up trying to achieve satisfying occupation because it seems like they don’t have a chance. That’s why it’s also important to encourage people not to give up, both in earning the necessary education and in vying for  a job.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest economic report, the groups with the highest unemployment rates in our country are teenagers, African Americans, and Hispanic Americans, in that order. Youth unemployment is at almost 30% in the U.S. and over 40% in countries like Spain which are experiencing even harder downturns in the recession. While that figure seems incredibly high, the difference a job makes to students versus full-time workers must be taken into account.

Here and abroad, one of the professions that has been hit the hardest is construction. Since the real estate industry has fallen off dramatically, decreased demand has meant sudden joblessness for many workers, builders and contractors who have no choice but to leave cancelled projects unfinished – and unpaid for. This could be the cause of Spain’s high unemployment rate – arguably the highest in the industrialized world – because of the country’s over-reliance on its construction boom for jobs. Connecticut blogger Marco Villa has a great explanation of this here.

Demonstrators in Seville, Spain, demand more jobs in a protest against the economic crisis on October 4. Jobless claims have skyrocketed to 3.7 million as the construction and service industries, which the country has relied heavily upon for jobs, have been the most affected with job destruction. This year there were over 80,000 new unemployment claims in the month of September. Reuters photo.

On a related note, a frequent concern for workers everywhere is competition with immigrants for jobs. This fear is largely unfounded, as studies in the U.S. and the U.K. have concluded that even great influxes of immigrants in the 70s and up through the past decade have not affected unemployment rates at all. Yet even as native citizens continue to blame immigrants for stealing their jobs, unemployment and underemployment remain some of the most pressing problems for those immigrants. The riots by Muslim immigrants in Parisian suburbs last fall were due partly to the fact that many of them, due to barriers formed by social and cultural stigmas, were denied access to fulfilling jobs with average wages. In the U.S., most Latin American immigrants have come exactly to find better-paying, more humane work than can be found in their own countries, and there has been a history of hiring them for cheap manual labor that it seems U.S. citizens do not want. Now they are also victims of unemployment. A prime example is the Los Angeles factory forced to fire a quarter of its workers last month as the government switched raids for firings in an attempt to drive out illegals.

A worker at the American Apparel factory in Los Angeles interviews candidates to fill his position. He was one of about 1,800 immigrant employees fired after a federal investigation found irregularities in the identity documents presented when they were hired. Instead of continuing with workplace raids, the Obama administration is forcing employers to dismiss unauthorized workers to reduce illegal immigration. The mayor of Los Angeles has called the firings "devastating" and insists that the government should target companies that exploit their workers. American Apparel has been praised for providing its workers with health benefits, giving them stock, and paying them well above the garment industry standard. Yet critics maintain that it is one of many companies that have become "addicted to illegal labor."

For an in-depth look at other immigration issues, check out Andy’s blog. If you want to see my comments, go to the breaking news page.

On a darker note, pukyms takes a look at the drug war, especially the problems caused by drug trafficking from Mexico to the U.S.  Both of these sites are well worth looking at when you’re in the mood for a change of subject. Embrace diversity ^_^

Unemployment is widespread in India because the country has a huge growth of the labor force, yet relatively slow growth in job opportunities. 90% of the working population are in the unorganized sector (agricultural workers in the country, contractors and subcontractors in the city) and 70% are either illiterate or only have an education below the primary level.

Read more on employment in India

A recent report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) showed that 93% of workers in India are employed in the informal sector. This means they work under an enterprise which is unregistered, is not subject to governmental regulation or national law, and does not provide them with any social protection. With no way to access a social security net, workers in these cases are left susceptible to wide poverty traps.

More than 90% of the labor force is employed in the informal or 'unorganzied' sector, in which employers do not provide social security or other benefits received by employees in the organized sector. Agricultural workers consitute most informal labor in rural areas, while in urban areas this category includes contractors, sub-contractors and migratory workers.

In the Western world, the average full-time worker usually expects his or her job to automatically include benefits like insurance plans, incentives, compensation for accident or illness, even paid leave and tenure. Yet in developing nations, most workers get little or no benefits at all, and the uncertainty or instability of their positions only heightens their risk of losing pay or losing their income altogether. Informal employment often involves individuals who are self-employed or members of the same family. Such a lack of insurance against sudden crises leaves households little support when the economy goes south. WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy’s comments in the October 12 article on India that while globalized trade has increased growth and development in poorer countries, it has not necessarily improved the quality of those workers’ jobs.

Superhindus, another worpress blogger who wrote about the Hindu growth rate, has one post with a ton of statistics on employment classification for different religious groups in both rural and urban areas of the country.

Unemployment is the source of ongoing stress and controversy in today’s turbulent economy. The unemployed are defined as those of the labor force who are able to work and currently seeking work but cannot find it. The unemployment rate is  is often the red flag countries use to gauge financial performance and morale, yet in many places it is does not include large segments of the population such as discouraged workers (those who have recently stopped looking for work because they feel there are no jobs or they are not qualified), rural areas and the unorganized sectors of the country’s economy. Unemployment rates are further skewed depending on how a country defines employment (for example, in Mexico anyone over 14 years of age who works at least one hour a week is considered employed).

In a decade in which the unemployment rate is as steep as it has ever been in the post-war era, the job crisis is a source of alarm even for the gainfully employed. It is troubling from a student’s point of view as well; throughout our studies, more and more emphasis is put upon building a network and broadening one’s range of skills in order to compete with a growing number of job seekers for a shrinking number of jobs.  Companies everywhere are cutting back on the number of positions filled to meet dwindling consumer demands and cope with rising production costs. Meanwhile the jobless suffer increased emotional anxiety and social isolation.

From manufacturers watching the prices of foreign products to students sizing up their competition from other countries, the threat of unemployment is a global issue. And as job scarcity drives international migration to industrialized areas, increased global competition makes the job crisis even harder to resolve. In the coming months I will explore how unemployment is manifested and addressed around the world and how it affects different countries’ outlooks and standard of living. I want to examine how it affects us as students, as citizens, and as contributors to our globalized society.

One group of people left out of the jobless count are defined by the bureau as “discouraged workers.” These are people who have been looking for work in the past year but not in the past four weeks because, among other reasons, they think that they don’t qualify for a job or that no jobs are available. Another larger category is made up of those who are “marginally attached to the labor force,” which include discouraged workers along with people who have stopped looking because of other factors like illness, family emergency, or school. The number of people in these categories has increased by almost one million since the recession began two years ago; if they were included in the jobless rate, it would be at least 2% higher. I found a great article in the New York Times explaining this early last month – check the Breaking News page for more details.

According to the CIA World Factbook, the United States ranked 91st in the world for unemployment, with a jobless rate of 7.2% in December of 2008; the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that it rose to 9.3% in August. Smaller and proportionally wealthier countries such as Qatar, Monaco and Andorra boast virtually no employment, while those such as the African nation of Djibouti, with few natural resources and little industry, display unemployment rates of nearly 60% in cities and over 80% in rural areas. It is often difficult to make concrete estimates, as the figures for many countries are out of date or unavailable.

In developed nations, when unemployment renders people unable to pay rent or mortgages it may lead them to homelessness because of foreclosure or eviction. The unemployed are more likely to be depressed, malnourished, lose self-esteem or suffer from mental stress or illness. In developing nations in Africa, Asia, Central and South America underemployment is a more fundamental and widespread problem. This occurs when people are employed only part time or work at inefficient or unproductive jobs, earning extremely low income that is not enough to meet their needs. Unemployment and underemployment are often observed along with increases in migration from rural areas to urban areas, characterized by an influx of workers as the demand for labor decreases.

A striking example of this is the situation of the mingong, or migrant workers, of China. As Chinese cities are rapidly expanding in size and population, there is an increased demand for migrant workers in mines, factories, and construction. These workers come from underdeveloped rural provinces seeking work in urban growth centers. They already number some 150 million.

Independent Swiss photographer Andreas Seibert followed mingong through the provinces of Sichuan, Hebei, Hunan, Guangdong, Liaoning, Chongqing, Shanxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi and Inner Mongolia A.R. over a period of several years in order to document their lives and work. From Somewhere to Nowhere was made by filmmaker Villi Hermann, who accompanied Seibert on the journey. This work is a heartrending documentation of the struggles that mingong face in traveling and caring for their families while finding ways to earn a living.

go to the movie website

watch Andreas Seibert’s audio slideshow at time.com