Labour and Unemployment

Paper on unemployment

10/16/2005

In order for the world to function and be successful labor is probably the most important factor required. Basically people need money to live a normal life and support their families and in order to do this the majority have to work. We also have the owners of companies needing to make money. To do this they have to employ staff for the company to function. Therefore the world survives on the continuous cycle of firms needing workers and workers needing work.

Employment is a constantly changing thing as times develop. In the past people trained to be in a job and tended to stay in that job all their lives. These days it is common for a person to change jobs on average every four years. As well as it being common for people to get new jobs it is also just as common for people to lose their jobs. This is commonly known as being unemployed. There are many different types of unemployment such as seasonal, frictional, structural and cyclical. Seasonal being loss of job due to different demands for output over the year. Frictional unemployment is basically the period between when people are changing jobs which is becoming more and more common. Structural is when a jobseeker has no skills or different skills compared to the skills required for current jobs on offer. Cyclical unemployment is when there simply just are not enough jobs on offer.

The worst experience of unemployment is when there is a sudden mass amount of people becoming unemployed. This is often caused by a company making cut backs are closing down entire factories. When a whole factory closes this can have a huge affect on the surrounding areas of where the factory was as the majority of the workers are likely to live in the local area. There are many effects this has on the community. After seeing the documentary “roger and me” by ‘Michael Moore’ we can see a clear example of mass unemployment. The documentary talks about the local town of Flint Michigan where Michael Moore comes from and the unemployment which devastated the city.

‘General Motors’ was a huge car company which had factories all over America making all different types of cars including the world famous Chevrolet. The huge factory based in Flint had thousands of workers employed, the majority of whom stay in Flint itself. It was very common for whole families to have worked in the factory at some stage in their life. This was no different for Michael Moore’s family where all 8 members apart from him worked in the factory. It is clear to see already how closing down the factory could be devastating for a whole family.

The company was making great profits excellent cars and parts were being produced constantly from factory and then suddenly the unexpected news was broken to the people. The General Motors Chairman had announced that the factory was moving out of the country to Mexico. Although the company was making profits and had a great factory running they still found the desire to look for cheaper labor to reduce cost and evidently increase profit. Suddenly the town of Flint was in chaos.

For there to be mass unemployment in an area over such a short period of time there are many knock on effects to the surrounding areas. With there being no other huge factories in the area the opportunity for jobs is very miniscule. Some skilled workers soon found themselves working in places such as Taco Bell just to earn some money. With very little money being generated in the area there is a knock on effect to other companies in Flint. With people having no money to buy goods that were of luxury were not required. Restaurants,