Unemployment is the economic indicator that refers the number of people in the economy that are willing and able to work, but are unable to get a job. Those who are said to be unemployed, people who are not willing or unable to work for whatever reason are deemed economically inactive and do not count towards the unemployment figures.
As part of my research I explored the reasons behind unemployment and the effect it has on the economy. I personally believe that unemployment has become one of the biggest issues of the 21st century. During the 1950s the unemployment rate was around 1.7% on a yearly average and dramatically increased from 5.7% to 7.8% from 2008 to 2010. With this information I decided to continue my research further to find the cause of such a dramatic change. So what went wrong in those two years?.
Unemployment is one of the biggest issues the youth will have to face in their lifetime. There is an estimated 75 million 16-24 year olds looking for work across the globe. This shows just how bad unemployment is around the world and that is only a fraction of the whole unemployment rate across the world. Lack of qualifications especially the lack of GCSES in English and Mathematics is one of the top reasons for youth unemployment, alongside low salary rates.
Because of the gabs between education and unemployment the youth lack the skills and qualifications needed for employers to hire them. I find this unfair as the examination boards keep raising the grade boundaries, which in turn leads to the grades being lower than expected every year and as the grades get lower the employer standards get higher. This always makes us feel as if we have no chance of getting anywhere. It was recorded that 743,000 young people were unemployed between the ages of 16-24 from November 2014 - January 2015.
Throughout my research I found that there were many sides to the argument as to what kind of problem unemployment is.