Contemporary Social Issues
Whenever the term “contemporary social problem” comes up in a conversation, unemployment, crime, and poverty cross the mind of an individual. The three problems have always appeared over the years despite measures by governments to reduce the numbers. Surprisingly, the three factors correlate with each other. It is common for statistics to say that high unemployment rates correspond with high crime and poverty rates. Unemployment serves as a crucial economic factor that affects the GDP of the country. Additionally, unemployment influences the income of households as well as industrial output. Low levels of unemployment lead to an increase in the crime rate because of poverty (Frederick, Jozefowicz, and Nelson 1504). Thus, addressing labor conditions could prove an essential way of dealing with poverty and crime in society since unemployment is the root cause of poverty and crime in society.
Background Information
Definition of Key Terms:
Labor Conditions: the conditions in which an individual works
Unemployment: individuals who do not have a workplace have actively sought jobs in the last four weeks and are actually available for employment, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (Reardon 37).
Crime: an unlawful act often punishable by the local government or the state
Poverty: a situation where an individual or community lacks financial services for a basic standard of living (Vaalavuo 349)
The rate of unemployment in the US has gradually reduced over the years, owing to the changes that the country has made in its labor market. The country has streamlined its hiring process using employment agencies (Petrosky-Nadeau and Valletta 1). The employment agencies focus on improving labor conditions in the market thus increasing the number of individuals willing to seek out employment. Without employment, individuals find it hard to access basic needs leading to an increase in crime rate as people strive to earn a living (Berk et al. 769). The personal and social effects of unemployment cause financial deprivation, debts, housing pressure, poverty, and homelessness (Akwara et al. 9). The information shows that unemployment affects crime and poverty within an area.
Evidence
According to Kim (page 4), mismatch contributes to 85.5 % of unemployment, while industry-level mismatch contributes 7.1% of unemployment. The primary cause of mismatch between the employee and the job is the lack of proper labor conditions. The lack of labor conditions is in the form of a lack of a third party that links an individual to the posts that they prefer. It is evident that job mismatch contributes a significant factor in unemployment (Kim 10). Dealing with the level of mismatch by introducing policies that ensure that valid matching takes place ensures that the level of unemployment in a country significantly reduces
Overall, dealing with labor conditions could change the level of crime and poverty in a country. Unemployment, crime rate, and poverty should be treated as a hard system in hard systems theory. Labor conditions lead to the development of a complex problem in a state. The state suffers from unemployment, which leads to a high crime rate and poverty in society. Mainly, mismatch contributes close to 90% of unemployment problems witnessed in countries. Reducing the level of unemployment will significantly reduce the levels of poverty and crime in the world.
Works Cited
Frederick, Sarah, James Jozefowicz, and Zackary Nelson. “A dynamic panel data study of the unemployment-crime relationship: the case of Pennsylvania.” Economics Bulletin 36.3 (2016): 1497-1507.
Reardon, Jack. “Defining unemployment…” Monthly Labor Review 134.7 (2011): 37-39.
Petrosky-Nadeau, Nicolas, and Robert G. Valletta. “Unemployment: Lower for Longer?.” FRBSF Economic Letter 21 (2019).
Vaalavuo Maria. “Deterioration in health: What is the role of unemployment and poverty?.” Scandinavian journal of public health 44.4 (2016): 347-353.
Kim, Jiwoon. “Analysis on the Increase in Unemployment Rates Since 2014.” KDI Feature Article (2018.11. 06) Eng (2018).