Unemployment

READING

DISCUSSION

UNIT 11. UNEMPLOYMENT

1. In 1977, the punk group the Sex Pistols used to sing, "There's no future, no future, no future for you!" Were they right?

2. Has the rate of unemployment in our country increased or decreased in the past 10 to 20 years?

3. In which economic sectors have jobs disappeared?

4. In which economic sectors have jobs been created?

5. Do you see any areas in which a large number of jobs might realistically be created?

6. Can you suggest any other solutions to the currently existing high rates of unemployment and temporary work?

7. Are you optimistic or pessimistic about your own future?

One of the problems that a national economy might face is a high level of unemployment. High unemployment means that there is a large amount of wasted labour resource, and governments will often try to reduce unem­ployment to an 'acceptable' level.

There exist a number of different categories of unemployment.

Frictional unemployment. It is inevitable that some unemployment is caused not so much because there are not enough jobs to go round, but because of the friction in the labour market, i. e. the difficulty in quickly matching workers with jobs, caused perhaps by a lack of knowledge about job opportunities. Frictional unemployment occurs where there is a shortage of a given type of worker in one region, but a surplus of the same type in another. In general, it takes time to match prospective employees with employers. And individuals will be unemployed during the search period for a new job. Frictional unemployment is temporary, lasting for the period of transition from one job to the next.

PART I. ECONOMICS

Seasonal unemployment. This occurs in certain industries, e.g. building, tourism and farming, where the demand for labour fluctuates in seasonal patterns throughout the year.

Structural unemployment occurs where long-term changes in the condi­tions of an industry occur, e.g. an industry may decline leaving many work­ers redundant and reluctant to move to a new industry (labour immobility). The feature of structural unemployment is high regional unemployment in the location of the industry affected.

Technological unemployment. This is a form of structural unemploy­ment, which occurs when new technologies are introduced. With automa­tion, employment levels in an industry can fall sharply, even when the industry's total output is increasing.

Cyclical unemployment. It has been the experience of the past that domestic and foreign trade go through cycles of boom, decline, recession, recovery, then boom again, and so on. Cyclical unemployment can be long-term, and a government might try;o reduce it by doing what it can to mini­mise a recession or to encourage faster economic growth.

Frictional and seasonal unemployment will be short-term. Structural, technological and cyclical unemployment are all long-term and more serious.

Governments are anxious to influence unemployment levels for a number of reasons. Unemployment is a waste of economic resources, and it leads to individual hardship. Politically, the level of unemployment is seen as a key indicator of a government's success or failure.

A government's policies to influence employment will probably be aimed either at reducing the total number of unemployed people down to an 'acceptable' level, or at creating more jobs. Job creation and reducing unemployment should often mean the same thing.

A government can try to create jobs or reduce unemployment by:

• spending more money directly on jobs, i. e. hiring more civil servants;

• encouraging growth in the 'private sector' of the economy. When aggregate demand is growing, firms will probably want to increase out­put to meet demand, and so will hire more labour;

• encouraging training on job skills. There might be a high level of unem­ployment amongst unskilled workers, and at the same time a shortage of skilled workers. A government can help to finance training schemes, in order to provide a 'pool' of workers who have the skills that firms need and will pay for.

• OCABULARY acceptable - прийнятний technological unemployment ~

SOTES frictional unemployment - тимчасове технологічне безробіття

безробіття, викликане перепідготовкою cyclical unemployment - циклічне

робітників безробіття

temporary unemployment - тимчасове civil servants - державний службовець

безробіття aggregate demand - сукупний попит

structural unemployment - безробіття, pool - резерв, фонд

викликане структурними змінами в

економіці

ХІТ 11. UNEMPLOYMENT

-:

EXERCISES I. Discuss the following in groups and present the results of the discussion.

In your opinion, when there is high unemployment during a recession, should the government intervene in the economy to create jobs? For example, should it use unemployed construction workers to build new housing or roads or transport systems, and unemployed teachers to reduce the size of classes in schools, and so on, rather than pay social security benefits to those people to do nothing? If not, why not? What are the economic arguments against such governmental spending?

II. Which of the following words mean the same as to employ someone, and which mean the same as to dismiss someone?

Appoint, engage, discharge, fire, hire, give a person the boot, recruit, kick out, pack off, lay off, make redundant, sack, take on.

III. Hiring and Firing. Fill in the missing letters.

1. Nick Right has had a very up and down C _ R______ R.

2. After studying very little at university, he was R _ CRU_________ D by a large

advertising agency to work on a new campaign.

3. But the agency soon S _ CK _ D him because he was always late.

4. Another agency hired him and then FI_____ D him for the same reason.

5. Agency number three not only h'red him but PR _ M_________ D him to work on a

very important campaign.

6. The campaign was a disaster and Nick was DEM_______ D to teaboy.

7. Soon after, the agency went bust and Nick was M _ DER D ND __ NT.

8. Agency number four APP _ I _ T _ D Nick to the position of Catering Manager.

9. He did better this time and was not D _ SM_______ S _ D.

10. He stayed for many years and finally RET____ E _ with good wishes of everyone in

the company.

IV Employment and Job Hunting. Find the words in these two conversations which fit the definitions. The first one has been done for you.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-23