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Essays About Unemployment: Top 6 Examples and 5 Prompts

Read our guide to see helpful essay examples and prompts to further your understanding and write essays about unemployment.

Unemployment is an unfortunate circumstance many find themselves in; it is a challenge that civilized society faces today. When people are unemployed, they look for jobs but cannot get them. As a result, they are left without a source of income and cannot adequately provide for themselves and their families. This, in turn, can lead to various issues, including depression.

Unemployment is a social, economic, and political issue. It leaves many people in poverty and prevents people from obtaining a source of income. As a result, politicians capture the eyes of voters by promising to lower the unemployment rate to get elected. 

You can get started by reading these essay examples if you are writing essays about unemployment.

6 Examples of Essays About Unemployment

1. unemployment reflection by christopher haynes, 2. what i learned from nearly a year of unemployment by becca slaughter, 3. why aren’t europe and canada in the same boat as u.s. for unemployment by glen hendrix, 4. a global dilemma: how unemployment creates poverty by tess hinteregger, 5. why has covid-19 been especially harmful for working women by nicole bateman and martha ross, 6. youth day and ordeal of nigerian youth by utomi jerome-mario, essay prompts about unemployment, 1. unemployment during the covid-19 pandemic, 2. the connection between unemployment and crime, 3. unemployment: whose fault is it, 4. the causes of unemployment, 5. the effects of unemployment.

“In order to secure work, we must be prepared to change or upgrade our skills and be willing to relocate if necessary. But some people are not interested in retraining to find work in another field, some people do not have the confidence to go out and look for work, and some refuse to accept a job they feel is below their level. Unless people like this change their attitudes, they will not be able to find work.”

Haynes provides two perspectives on unemployment; first, that the government should do more to address it, and second, that if people want work, they must adjust to make a living. He believes that many are unemployed because they are unwilling to change their skillset or relocate to get a job. Therefore, more should be done to reduce unemployment, but it goes both ways; everyone must put in the effort.  

“I remember feeling embarrassed and powerless. I was angry it wasn’t my decision. I was happy I didn’t have to go back there, yet I was stressed about not having anywhere to go. Ultimately, I felt an overwhelming sadness that left me terrified. While I was overflowing with confusing and contradicting emotions, I somehow felt empty.”

In her essay, Slaughter reflects on her unemployed time and how it changed her. Her previous job was long and stressful, but whenever someone would ask her what she did for a living, she was embarrassed and regretful for not being there anymore. In addition to losing her job, she feels like she lost a part of herself at that time. Thankfully, she got a new job, one less taxing than her previous one. 

“You would think paying all that money year after year to a government whose purpose is to “establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity” would entitle that person to a modicum of “blessings” to insure his “tranquility” and “general welfare” in case of some stupid virus pandemic. It would certainly be the “just” thing to do. And that person’s “posterity” might look a bit less bleak. European governments and Canada did just that. And it’s not even explicitly stated in the preamble to their constitution.”

Hendrix criticizes the United States’ response to the unemployment problem caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that Canada and European nations have done a much better job. He discusses how much better their unemployment benefit system is compared to the U.S. and how it is ironic that the United States, whose constitution says all of these things promoting justice and wellbeing, cannot provide that for its citizens during a global pandemic. 

“While unemployment can create poverty, poverty also reduces the chance of being employed. To ensure that those who are affected by unemployment do not fall into the negative cycle, researchers believe that governments should focus on improving quality education and training all young people so they remain in school.”

Hinteregger, in her essay, explains the link between unemployment and poverty, writing that it leads to the loss of income. People will also have to raise their families in poverty, which perpetuates the cycle of poverty. In addition, the poor may resort to violence to make a living. She points out the sheer irony of this issue, as unemployment causes poverty while poverty may also reduce the chance of being employed. 

“COVID-19 is hard on women because the U.S. economy is hard on women, and this virus excels at taking existing tensions and ratcheting them up. Millions of women were already supporting themselves and their families on meager wages before coronavirus-mitigation lockdowns sent unemployment rates skyrocketing and millions of jobs disappeared. And working mothers were already shouldering the majority of family caregiving responsibilities in the face of a childcare system that is wholly inadequate for a society in which most parents work outside the home.”

Bateman and Ross write about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on women. Many women are forced to go through so much to provide for their families; however, the lockdowns led to many of them losing their jobs. The unemployment rate for women rose dramatically, by 12 percent, from February to April of 2020. It has been difficult for them to balance work with taking care of their families, women’s primary role as dictated by society. 

“Youth unemployment is potentially dangerous as it sends a signal to all segments of the Nigerian Society. Here in Nigeria, the rate of youth unemployment is high, even at the period of economic normalcy i.e. the oil boom of the 1970s (6.2 per cent); 1980s (9.8 per cent) and the 1990s (11.5 per cent). Youth unemployment therefore is not a recent phenomenon. But if what happened in the 1980s/90s were a challenge of sorts, what is happening presently, going by the latest report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), is a challenge.”

Jerome-Mario’s essay focuses on several issues affecting the Nigerian youth, including unemployment. The country has a high unemployment rate; over a fourth of the youth population is unemployed. He stresses the importance of the youth using their voice to make a change and to persuade the government to care for its citizens more. 

How COVID-19 contributed to the nursing shortage?

The pandemic and its lockdown policies have undoubtedly caused many people to lose jobs. Look into the impact of COVID-19 on the unemployment rate, particularly during the early months of the pandemic. Which sectors were most affected? Pull data and statistics to show how the public was affected by the covid-19 pandemic in terms of unemployment.

Many say that unemployment leads to higher crime rates. Do you believe this is true? Research how unemployment is linked to crime; examine the effects of unemployment on mental health; and conclude whether this may contribute to the increased likelihood of committing a crime. 

In Haynes’ essay, he claims that employers/the government, and workers are to blame for unemployment. After reading his essay and both arguments, who do you believe is at fault? Explain your response in detail, and make sure to provide a solid base of evidence.

Unemployment has many contributing causes. Assuming a non-pandemic setting, research what causes unemployment and list them down in your essay. Elaborate on each one and, if you can draw connections, explain them as well. 

As a grave issue, unemployment has many severe effects, notably poverty. For your essay, write about the effects of unemployment on a person, both physical and mental. How are they connected? What secondary effects might they produce? For a compelling and argumentative essay, answer these questions using research material and interview data.

For help with this topic, read our guide explaining what is persuasive writing ?If you are interested in learning more, check out our essay writing tips !

argumentative essay on youth unemployment

Martin is an avid writer specializing in editing and proofreading. He also enjoys literary analysis and writing about food and travel.

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Economics Help

Reasons for Youth Unemployment

youth-unemployment

In the UK, youth unemployment has averaged higher than the main unemployment rate. This is is a similar situation to the US and European economies.

The reasons for youth unemployment include

  • Lack of qualifications . Young people without any skills are much more likely to be unemployed ( structural unemployment ) A report by Centre for Cities suggest there is a correlation between youth unemployment and poor GCSE results in Maths and English. To some extent, the service sector has offered more unskilled jobs such as bar work, supermarket checkout and waiters. However, the nature of the labour market is that many young people lack the necessary skills and training to impress employers.
  • Geographical Unemployment . Youth unemployment is often focused in certain areas – often inner cities where there is a cycle of low achievement and low expectations. For example, the employment rate for 16-24 year-olds is only 64% in the North East compared to a national average of 70%
  • Real Wage Unemployment . You could argue unemployment is caused by labour market rigidities and wages being above the equilibrium rate. Traditionally young workers have been paid lower ‘apprentice wages.’ In the UK, there is a minimum wage of £5.60 – for those aged 18-20 (2017). For those aged 21-24, the minimum wage is £7.05 – Age 21-24. (2017) – just below the full minimum wage of £7.50. However, nominal wage growth has been muted leading to falls in real wages. This has increased potential for real wage unemployment, especially amongst younger workers.
  • Lack of graduate jobs . Many young people leave college with a degree but then find graduate jobs are in short supply. Some find they can be over-qualified for the job market they enter.
  • Cyclical Unemployment. The biggest cause of unemployment in the UK is often cyclical/demand-deficient unemployment. This is unemployment caused by the falling output which occurs during the recession. During the 2008 recession, youth unemployment increased at a faster rate than the actual unemployment rate. It is often young workers who are more likely to experience unemployment; this is because with the least experience they are the easiest to remove from the labour market. Also, firms often don’t sack workers, but they do stop taking on new (young) workers.
  • Frictional unemployment . School leavers may just take time to find the right work.
  • Cultural/social factors . Youth unemployment is often highest amongst deprived areas where there is pessimism over job prospects. Youth unemployment is often higher among people who have a history of broken families, drug use or criminal record. Youth unemployment is also higher amongst ethnic minority groups. In 2016, the unemployment rate for young Bangladeshi and Pakistani people aged 16-24 was 28%. This compared to youth unemployment rates of 12% for the White ethnic group (the lowest) and 25% for people from a black ethnic background. ( ONS )

Unemployment-ethnicity-youth

  • Underground economy. Official unemployment may occur in areas where there is a thriving underground economy. i.e. there are unofficial jobs for people to take. These jobs may be illegal such as dealing in soft drugs. However, it is hard to ascertain the extent of these unofficial jobs and it is easy to make sweeping generalisations about deprived areas.
  • Lack of jobs may cause young workers to become demotivated
  • A lack of past employment may cause firms to be unwilling to hire in the first place.
  • Unemployment means workers don’t have the opportunity to learn skills and on the job training.

A note on youth unemployment rates

  • The official unemployment rate for youths is influenced by the high number in education. When we say the youth unemployment rate is 18% – it doesn’t mean 18% of people 16-25 are unemployed.
  • It means 18% of those 16-25 year olds who are looking for work are unemployed.
  • The graph below shows many young people are in education/higher studies.

Inactivity rates amongst the young

youth-unemployment-inactivity

Inactivity rates include people who are classed as unemployed, but also includes people who are not economically active, people in education or not actively seeking work. Thus inactivity includes people in education and training, but also those discouraged to leave the labour market.

Why is youth unemployment rate higher than average?

  • Youth unemployment rate statistics skewed by relatively higher numbers in education.
  • Young workers least qualified with lowest levels of relevant skills. Therefore, less employable.
  • Some young workers leave university with degrees but find graduate jobs are in short supply.
  • Young workers may be perceived as less reliable by employers.
  • Young people who are unemployed – find it hard to break the cycle of no job – therefore no experience – therefore hard to get a job.

Global youth unemployment

youth-unemployment-global

Source: OECD

  • Unemployment Statistics
  • Causes of Unemployment
  • Spanish Youth Unemployment
  • Costs of unemployment
  • NEET – levels of young people Not in Employment, Education and Training
  • Case Studies on Youth Unemployment at FT
  • Unemployment statistics at ONS

16 thoughts on “Reasons for Youth Unemployment”

  • Pingback: Types of Unemployment — Economics Blog

govt and private sector should work together to tackle this problem

Government should introduce such tactics which are helpful for youth and give chances for further improvement.

Like what? One example please.

Iam church minister in charge of youth in my diocese. Your notes have helped me a great deal.They are an answer to umemployment challenge among youth in africa.

I believe the youth should also develop entrepreneurial skills and start up businesses on our own.If we continue to put pressure on the prevailing jobs, i don;t think we all can be satisfied since the pressure will continue to increase day by day. Secondly, we need to also add value to our education by going further in our academic life.

Youth need be helped to identify resources.Most of which have tremendous pontential to help us meet our basic need and improve our standards of living.

I believe that If the Government does not employ you, then you employ yourself. I am a blogger, but though I have not seen any income from my blog I believe it will be a very good source of work for me in the future even I strive for audience. We the Youths of today need to work things out for ourselves.The trouble with unemployment is that the minute you wake up in the morning you’re on the job. ~Slappy White

tha reason of unemployment in uk moving indistrial structure to other countries if govetment give incentives to busnismens . it would improve

  • Pingback: How to Deal With Youth Unemployment | Economics Blog

Can someone please explain this graph in detail to me?

  • Pingback: Pensioners better off, young people worse off - Economics Blog

I think its because of the untrusted people who leading us and most young people when they come from high school comes to tertiary their only focused on the getting degrees ruther than looking circumstance of that course they have choosed

All the graduates l am given small opportunity ,any degree or any study but I given business opportunity any interested persons contact me Note: no investment for your business use this Opportunity and start your new life

The script was interesting and motivating especially to me as a youth

Government should focus on curriculum review because the current curriculum concentrates on training job seekers rather than job creators.

Comments are closed.

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Analysis: Africa’s Youth Unemployment Crisis Is a Global Problem

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Africa’s Youth Unemployment Crisis Is a Global Problem

Governments and donors must stop focusing solely on skills development and entrepreneurship—or risk more youth migration, unrest, and terrorism..

Africa has the world’s youngest population, with a median age of 19.7 years. Such a large youthful population might ordinarily symbolize an ample and energetic workforce, a boon for the development prospects of any region. But the dire employment situation for young people across Africa continues to snuff out their potential. According to the African Development Bank , in 2015, one-third of Africa’s then 420 million young people between 15 and 35 years old were unemployed, another third were vulnerably employed, and only 1 in 6 was in wage employment.

Although Africa has the lowest unemployment rate globally on paper among youth ages 15 to 24 (10.6 percent in 2021, according to the International Labor Organization), the majority of Africa’s youth work informally, and many are underemployed or remain in poverty despite working due to low wages and the lack of a social safety net, making it difficult to compare African countries to more advanced economies.

The African Development bank reports that while 10 million to 12 million youth enter the workforce in Africa each year, only 3 million formal jobs are created annually. African youth have no choice but to work, because most countries on the continent have little or no social protection. According to the African Development Bank, it is therefore common to see humanities and social sciences graduates driving taxis in Algiers and Cameroonian engineers ferrying passengers on commercial motorcycles in Douala.

Africa’s youth employment problem is a global problem. The world can’t achieve and sustain global development with a large segment of youth alienated and unprepared to lead their continent and the world. Hordes of struggling African youth will continue to migrate en masse to developed countries. And foreign investors can’t be assured of peaceful business climates in Africa, as poverty and inequality fuel looting, insurgencies, and terrorist activity on the continent.

Studies have highlighted mismatches between the skills African students obtain at school and those required by employers. African governments and development partners have therefore attempted to address the employment challenge, mainly by implementing skills development programs for employment in high-priority sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing, and promoting entrepreneurship in these areas. Youth enrolled in such programs learn technical and vocational skills, as well as other life skills to help them find employment and run their own businesses.

But focusing on these solutions alone excludes young people who are not inclined toward entrepreneurship, as well as those with other skills and capabilities that could be nurtured with alternative means of support. Indeed, it perpetuates the very cause of Africa’s youth employment problem by concentrating the talents of youth in a few professional areas to the exclusion of many others.

According to a Brookings Institution report , such interventions do not have a good track record in developing countries. Just a small number of young entrepreneurs in sub-Saharan Africa find success, and they are rarely able to subsequently hire fellow young Africans. African labor markets are also not able to absorb the available skilled workers. Moreover, surveys in rural Ghana and Uganda showed that young people in these regions often struggle to get the funding they need to start a business or land to farm on, and they don’t benefit from government and donor initiatives—particularly concerning as two-thirds of new job seekers across Africa live in rural areas.

African societies have long valued professions like medicine, law, and business, while creative fields such as writing, art, music, drama, and fashion are regarded as hobbies.

Africa’s youth employment crisis has been a long time in the making. An adequate solution to this problem requires addressing its root cause: the lack of job creation in many professional fields. Africa’s slow pace of development is not the only reason for its limited range of jobs.

African societies have for a long time valued a few professional fields to the exclusion of many others and have therefore not created ample jobs in less popular fields. Fields such as medicine, law, business, and economics are highly regarded, so parents push bright children to pursue courses in these areas. Many students who do not initially get to study such subjects later pursue work in related areas, both for the prestige and because jobs are more abundant in these fields.

Creative fields such as writing, art, music, drama, and fashion are often regarded as hobbies. Many African parents discourage or prevent their children from pursuing careers in these fields. It’s little wonder that such renowned African writers as Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Tsitsi Dangarembga all initially studied medicine.

To reverse the continent’s employment woes, Africans would need to begin appreciating the utility of all careers. African governments must introduce policies that shift the educational focus from passing exams to exploring a degree’s actual applications to society. African governments, together with the private sector, must actively create jobs related to all professional fields. Development partners can advise African countries on creating jobs in less popular fields, because their countries have successfully employed their talent in such fields.

For instance, plenty of jobs could be created for students graduating with botany and urban planning degrees. African cities and rural areas need more botanical gardens and parks. The value they provide in developed countries is evident. Botanists and urban planners can beautify African streets and make them greener by lining them with trees and other plants. Botanists can also set up private practices to advise households and institutions on the ideal plants to grow in their gardens and compounds.

America’s Hollow Africa Policy

Washington’s focus on stability over human rights is alienating Africa’s youth.

Africa’s Disappointed Demographic

Young people across the continent have been hit hard by the pandemic, lockdowns, and economic stagnation—but their protests have largely been ignored by elderly elites.

Likewise, Africans have a greater need for psychologists than they realize. An estimated 100 million Africans have depression in what some have called a “silent epidemic.” Meanwhile, according to the Lancet , Africa has only 1.4 mental health workers per 100,000 people, while the global average is 9 per 100,000 people.

The large numbers of graduating psychology students should not feel compelled to find jobs in other fields. Governments can introduce policies that mandate hiring psychologists at all schools. Like their Western counterparts, young African children and older students can’t always turn to family members and friends in difficult moments. They need the emotional support of a trained professional at such times.

Even older adults in Africa appear to need the counseling services of psychologists. As a substitute for these services, they consult pastors and find solace in church services. The pastoring profession has proliferated across Africa as a result, but the consolation Africans receive from church is an inadequate substitute for the professional care trained mental health workers provide.

Archaeology doesn’t have to be seen as a useless course in much of Africa. Africans need archaeologists to preserve their rich cultural heritage and develop historical sites. Africans can reap huge tourism revenues by building world-renowned museums to house their treasured artifacts, including those repatriated from the museums of Western countries. And if coastal countries across Africa took oceanography and fisheries more seriously, Ghana would have discovered earlier than 2012 that it had coral reefs. Such reefs and aquariums could be huge tourist draws in these countries. Seismic oceanography could likewise lead to more discoveries of oil and gas in the waters off Africa.

Institutions like the World Bank and the International Labor Organization can introduce an index (similar to the defunct Doing Business ranking) to measure the extent to which countries develop and utilize the knowledge and skills of their youth. Such a ranking would compel African governments to concentrate on harnessing the varied skills, knowledge, and talents of young people.

Development partners, private foundations, and foreign companies (as part of their corporate social responsibility) can also help African nations create jobs in other professional fields by building public institutions such as libraries, art galleries, and music conservatories across the continent, and funding art workshops and music lessons. Libraries are scarce across Africa. Kenya, with a population of 55.3 million, has just 64 public libraries, while Nigeria, the continent’s most populous country with a population of 212.7 million, has an estimated 316 public libraries. By contrast, France with a population of 65.5 million has 16,500 public libraries.

With increased access to books, more Africans would develop interests in reading and writing, spawning higher numbers of writers and journalists. More Africans would be able to articulate themselves in writing, enabling them to document the continent’s history and contribute their perspectives to debates on public policy and foreign policy rather than letting the world write about Africa. More libraries would provide spaces for unemployed and self-employed youth to research and develop their ideas, work on independent projects, and hold meetings with others.

Nigeria, the continent’s most populous country with a population of 212.7 million, has an estimated 316 public libraries. By contrast, France with a population of 65.5 million has 16,500

In addition, students across Africa would perform better academically if they had dedicated spaces like libraries for studying; Africa’s youth employment debacle has been partly blamed on the continent’s low educational outcomes. Libraries could also go a long way toward curbing Africa’s astronomical population growth by providing teenage girls in rural areas (where there is a higher incidence of teenage pregnancies) both a refuge from the abusive men who prey on them and a more productive way of spending their time.

Similarly, Africa’s already significant share of the world’s renowned artists and musicians would multiply if young people were exposed early to art and musical instruments, and were given access to training facilities and quality instruction. Youth with training in art and music can also work with these skills on a part-time basis, as well as for supplementary income. Furthermore, the construction of libraries, art galleries, and music conservatories would provide work opportunities to architects, who are in short supply across Africa.

Young Africans lack access to grants to pursue professional ambitions such as language study abroad, internships abroad (as well as local ones), book-writing projects, and online classes. African governments and development partners must make grants available to people with varied interests, not just entrepreneurs. With these grants, African youth would gain the relevant skills and experiences to qualify for the jobs they seek. They would be able to pursue unconventional career paths and work independently. And they would have access to expert training online in areas as diverse as screenwriting, novel-writing, acting, cooking, and coding.

Development partners can also encourage their nationals to hire suitably qualified African youth in nonprofit and private organizations around the world. African youth lack opportunities to work abroad because their countries do not have development agencies operating abroad and relatively few African companies have subsidiaries outside their countries or the continent where their youth could travel to work. In addition, African countries have smaller diplomatic missions, and professional positions in these missions are usually restricted to foreign service officers, many of whom are older and more experienced.

Just a few African governments—including Egypt, Morocco, and South Africa—sponsor their youth to enter international organizations such as the United Nations as junior professional officers and volunteers. The weak passports of African countries are an additional impediment. Unemployed African youth aren’t able to travel abroad to network and search for opportunities the way a young French or American job seeker might.

If African governments and development partners implemented such varied solutions, they would succeed in harnessing the skills and knowledge of the vast majority of African youth. If young Africans could easily find jobs across diverse professional fields, fewer of them would choose to be nurses, and their countries wouldn’t have surplus unemployed nurses to export to developed countries. Parents would also be more accepting of their children pursuing less popular careers if their prospects of finding work in such fields were greater.

Adopting a holistic approach to the employment problem would enable African governments to better target entrepreneurship and skills training programs to those who would benefit most from them, especially youth from rural areas where the majority of agricultural and manufacturing activities take place. Targeting entrepreneurship and skills training there would also help to stem their migration to urban areas.

This approach would be more difficult than the current approach focused on entrepreneurship and skills training, but it stands a better chance of solving the employment problem.

African governments must do the difficult work of creating jobs for their youth, but donor countries and nongovernmental organizations can help them by thinking beyond the current development paradigm.

Audrey Elom Donkor is a writer and international affairs analyst from Ghana. Twitter:  @AudreyDonkor

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Youth Unemployment

How it works

Exploring factors hindering the implementation of youth development package in addressing youth unemployment:)

CHAPTER ONE

1. Introduction

1.1. Background of the study

The reason for investing in young people is clear. Today, 1.2 billion adolescents stand at the challenging crossroads between childhood and the adult world (UNICEF, 2011). Youths represent 25 per cent of the working age population and account for 47 per cent (88 million) of the world’s unemployed people. An estimated 515 million young people, nearly 45 per cent of the total, live on less than two dollars a day.

In many post-crisis transition countries, over half of the population is younger than 25 years of age and many of them are teenagers (UNICEF, 2010). The majority of Africa’s population is also below the age of 30 years (African Youth Report, 2011).

Likewise, Ethiopia’s population is predominantly young, over 50 percent being under 18 years of age (CSA, 2007) and the youth (15-29 ages) constituting 30% of the population. However, in the past, this latter group has not received the attention it deserves and even though it has been affected by the same challenges that most youths in developing countries face, including early marriage (before the age of 18), educational disadvantage and gender discrimination, high risk of HIV/AIDS infection, domestic labour, high prevalence of female genital mutilation and sexual violence and child/human trafficking (UNICEF, 2011). The rural youth, who make up 81% of the country’s youth population are especially vulnerable, with a low level of educational attainment especially for girls (Inception Report, 2011). This suggests the need for incorporating youth issues into the national policies in order to foster youth development and participation so that the pivotal contribution of youths in combating poverty, inequality and gender discrimination is to be realized in a sustainable manner.

Considering the role of youth in the overall development of the country and recognizing their disproportionate representation in all aspects of life, the government of Ethiopia, in 2004, designed the National Youth Policy (MYSC, 2004). In order to put the policy and other youth issues into practice, the Urban and Rural Youth Development Package was also developed in 2006. The major goal of the policy and the youth package was to enable the youth to play an active role in building a democratic society and good governance as well as social and economic development.

The Urban Youth Development Package is a comprehensive development package that is designed to solve socio-economic problem of urban youth. Among other program areas youth employment and youth reproductive health including HIV/AIDS are the major ones.

Even though many countries are trying to tackle youth problems through various policies and programs, in the recent time, different researches show that the large number of youth is not absorbed by labor market and economy of the country. According to UNESCO (2004), about sixty-six million youth of the world are currently out of the work. In addition, hundreds of millions of youth throughout the world engage fewer hours, while others work more hours for small earnings and no safety. These unemployment and other problems of the youth cause serious economic and social challenges over the world.

Despite adoption of favorable youth policies and programs in Ethiopia, the study finds that policies to address the challenges facing youth have not resulted in a great deal of success. As MoFED (2012), lack of managerial manpower, poor data recording, lack of a clear demarcation of responsibilities between stakeholders and the bureaucratic administration system, lack of follow up, absence of binding agreements to enforce collaboration of other ministries, lack of awareness by the general public, limited financial and technical support, and vagueness of the youth policy, strategy and guidelines are some of challenges that affect implementation of youth-focused programs.

The need to reduce youth unemployment requires governments and development partners to design and implement comprehensive youth policies and different programs. As UNFA (2007), different governments and development partners recognized economic problems of youth and their consequences for the socio-economic development; and this consciousness has given direction to much more concerted efforts to deal with the youth development agendas in a coordinated and comprehensive manner.

In line with this thought, the World Youth Report (2005) states that: a network of major stakeholders must be established to ensure coordination of efforts across government departments and the donor community; in addition, extensive consultations with youth and their representative associations are required at all stages of the policy development and implementation. Hence, this research will uses quantitative survey design in order to explore factors hindering the implementation of youth development package in Dire Dawa.

1.2. Statement of the problem

Youths are among the most important resources countries need to have in order to bring about prosperity. Energetic, courageous and qualified youth can make changes to the socio-economic development; if they are well utilized and managed (Msigwa and Kipesha, 2013). However, unemployment among young people has becoming a major policy challenge for all nations in the world. It is not only a statistical concept, but also a multidimensional social phenomenon. It results substantial crises in psychological, social and economic perspectives, some of them are: increasing crime rates and violence, dependence on family, low self-esteem, poor social adaptation, depression and loss of confidence (Kabaklarli et al 2011). Nazir et al (2009) in the same manner showed that unemployment affects the socio-economic status of the family, leads to poor mental health, dependency and increases the magnitude of corruption, drug addiction, crimes and suicide in a society.

Government of Ethiopia have political will to initiate and pursue national youth policies, strategies, and programs. But their implementation did not bring the multifaceted change because of lack of focus by the stakeholder, especially in economic development of the youth (MOYS, 2016).

The standard definition of unemployment of ILO is based on the following three criteria that must be satisfied simultaneously; “without work”, “currently available for work” and “seeking work’’. In addition to this, under partial relaxation, the definition of unemployment includes discouraged job seekers in addition to persons satisfying the standard definition. Discouraged job seekers are those who want a job but did not take any active step to search for work because they believe that they cannot find one. Under the completely relaxed definition, unemployment includes persons without work and those who are available for work, including those who were or were not seeking work. That is, the seeking work criterion is completely relaxed and unemployment is based on the “without work” and “availability” criterion only. (Central Statistical Agency, 2005)

Ethiopia has one of the highest urban unemployment rates worldwide at 50% of the youth labor force. According to a report by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, 87% of all registered job seekers are between the ages of 15-29. Sixty eight percent (68%) of employed youth (rural and urban) are unpaid family workers. (Talent Youth Association (TaYa), 2013)

The lack of employment opportunities for Ethiopian young people is among the critical development challenges facing by the country and a key barrier to national efforts towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. (TaYa, 2013)

Thus, to accelerate the growth, security and sustainability of the Ethiopian economy development, each sector needs to be supported by young entrepreneurs and employees. Additionally, the need to create more jobs which is consistent and compatible to new graduates is very essential. Youth unemployment breeds disappointment, hopelessness, and despair. These conditions are more likely to result in youth engaging in risky and destructive behavior. The consequences of youth’s risky behavior affect their own health, their families, communities and the nation at large. In other words, they might be Unproductive, they feel a sense of hopelessness, and be at great risk for drug and alcohol addiction, delinquency and getting involved in crime. This may ultimately also lead to social unrest and civil disobedience. (TaYa, 2013)

Different researchers took government organization leaders ability and institutional capabilities as the major problem to implement youth development packages. However, these research tries to see the relationship between program factor and youth motivation for program participation. The program factors that will be investigated in this research are; program approach, program service type, program funding sources, program commitment to youth participation in structured youth development package in Ethiopia; particularly in Dire Dawa City Administration.

Lack of study in the area of youth participation is a major challenge among youth serving organization in Ethiopia. The main focus of this research however is, exploring barriers and opportunities for implementation of youth development package in Dire Dawa and youth motivation for participating in program designed to solve unemployment problem of urban youth.

The main research questions to be addressed are:

Is youth development package successful in addressing unemployment problems of youth’s in Dire Dawa?

To what extent have the key stakeholders implemented economic aspects of youth development packages to solve youth unemployment problems in the study area?

What are the barriers and opportunities for youth participation in the program designed to solve youth economic problems?

1.3. Objectives of the study

1.3.1. General objective

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the hindering factors for the implementation of youth development packages in addressing youth unemployment problems in Dire Dawa.

1.3.2. Specific objectives

To identify the challenges faced by the key stakeholders in access and utilization of the program

To examine the monitoring and evaluation procedure of youth development package in the study areas

To explore factors motivating and hindering the youth participation in the program

1.4. Significance of the study

Just like any other developing countries, Ethiopia is experiencing high unemployment rate that is threatening the pace of countries development. The unemployment rate is highest among the urban. It is upon this background that this study set out to investigate the effectiveness of youth development package towards unemployment reduction in the study area. These research will significantly important to provide insight to government organizations and development partners about practical challenges encountered in implementing economic aspects of youth development package that is designed to ensure economic empowerment of urban youths and to forward recommendation how to improve its implementation. Furthermore, this study will provide some theoretical base for other researchers who might need to conduct further studies in related areas to enhance better implementation of economic aspects of Youth Development Package.

1.5. Scope of the study

The study will be conducted mainly in Dire Dawa City Administration. The study emphasizes on factors hindering the implementation of youth development package in addressing urban unemployment. The total frame of the study is delimited to youths in kebele 02 and kebele 03 administration which is among nine urban kebele administrations of Dire Dawa.

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Home — Essay Samples — Economics — Unemployment — Unemployed Youth – the Nation’s Biggest Concern

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Unemployed Youth - The Nation’s Biggest Concern

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argumentative essay on youth unemployment

Unemployment Causes and Effects Essay

Introduction, causes of unemployment, effects of unemployment, works cited.

Unemployment causes and effects are vital to recognize in order to solve the problem. Analyzing them can also allow people to realize what consequences are to expect. Yet, first of all, all the essential terminology should be defined.

Unemployment refers to a state of not having a job. It entails individuals with the ability to work, a resolve to find employment, available and in the hunt for employment (Stone 25). Categories of unemployment include classical, structural, frictional, cyclical, and hidden types.

Classical unemployment entails a situation in which earnings received for a job go beyond ordinary levels. This results in limited job vacancies for people. The structural type refers to a situation in which unemployed individuals fail to meet job requirements in terms of skills needed (Stone 29). Frictional unemployment concerns the changeover phase between jobs, while the cyclical one refers to a state in which claims in the economy fail to offer jobs to people. When the claim for goods and services lowers, there is a limited production that requires few workers (Stone 29). Finally, the hidden type refers to the unemployment of prospective workers due to errors made in generating statistics on the subject (Stone 30).

The causes and effects of unemployment impact individuals, society and the economy in general. The overall problem issue results from various factors relating to social, economic, environmental, political and individual elements in an economy. So, to gather both consequences and causes of unemployment, this essay attempts to consider and analyze them separately.

Unemployment results from several causes and factors related to an economy. Some causes are due to personal choices while others are beyond individual control (Stone 31). People invest many resources in gaining reputable education and eligibility for jobs, but often find themselves with no employment (Stone 34). Unemployment results from factors and causes discussed below.

The first cause is inflation. Inflation refers to the progressive increase in prices of commodities and services in the economy. Economic inflation is one of the major causes of unemployment (Stone 37). Inflation results in a limited market activity by economies that cannot match efforts by others due to escalating prices. The economy experiences trouble, and progressively employers fire some workers to reduce the cost of production. This result in unemployment among the individuals fired.

The second cause is recession. Recession refers to decline Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of an economy, employment rate and market activity (Dawson 75). Economic recession links directly with economic inflation. Recession results from inflation where people are not able to afford goods and services offered by the economy (Stone 41).

A decline in production and more imports than exports characterize a recession. These elements influence negatively on GDP of an economy. This results in increased rates of unemployment because many employers refuse to hire while others fire some of their employees (Stone 43).

Another cause is change in technology. Rapid change in technology is driving many employers into diversifying and improving the effectiveness of their workforce (Dawson 78). Some of technology applied replaces individuals in the production process as some process executed manually apply through technology.

This leads to several people losing their jobs. Job dissatisfaction is also another leading cause of unemployment (Dawson 78). New technology results in some employees being involved partially in production activities, which leads to frustration. Frustrations may lead to employee resignation (Dawson 80). This causes unemployment.

Another cause is employee worth (Dawson 85). Employees put a lot of effort and dedication in their activities but often end up unappreciated by their employers. This may result to lack of motivation among employees, which may compel them to stop working for their employers (Dawson 85).

This leads to individuals being unemployed until they find employers who appreciate their efforts. Discrimination in places of work is another cause of unemployment. Discrimination could be because of age, gender, social class, race, religion or ethnic background. Securing a job in such a working environment is extremely difficult and may discourage people from looking for jobs as well as forcing those already in jobs to quit (Dawson 87).

Other causes of unemployment relate to an individual and include disability, attitude towards potential employers, negative perceptions about jobs and employees as well as an individual’s ability to look for a job (Dawson 93). Welfare payments should be discouraged as they reduce the will of unemployed people to look for jobs. People develop dependency on grants and lack any meaning in employment since they are able to meet their basic needs (Dawson 98).

Unemployment has both positive and negative effects. However, negative effects of unemployment surpass positive effects (Stone 65). Unemployed individuals experience difficulties meeting their basic needs as well as contributing to economic prosperity of their countries (Stone 66). In recessions, many people lose their jobs, but companies usually develop mechanisms to produce more goods with limited workforce. Unemployment leads to effects discussed below.

The first effect is loss of income. Unemployment results in individuals losing their source of income and livelihood. Most people in employment use their incomes to get mortgages and other forms of financing (Stone 69). Loss of income leads to poor living standards and increased risk on health.

Another effect of unemployment is social exclusion. A work place provides a platform for socialization. When people lose their jobs, their social circle reduces considerably and end up excluded from the social environment. Other social problems associated with unemployment include crime, bribery and gambling (Stone 70).

Unemployment causes political instability (Stone 75). When majority of a country’s population is unemployed, life becomes hard, and people develop hostile characters. They consider their government as ineffective and incapable of providing the needs of its people (Stone 76). Such individuals participate in movements that oppose government policies through riots that result in political instability.

effects of unemployment include over exploitation of available labor, reduced rate of economic growth, reduced human capacity, loss of human resources and increase in poverty levels (Dawson 101). One positive effect of unemployment is the availability of adequate labor at reduced market prices. When many people are unemployed, labor is available at competitive prices because people are always eager to have some income (Stone 80).

Unemployment has various categories that include classical, structural, frictional, cyclical and hidden unemployment (Stone 26). Unemployment results from several factors that vary in terms of the supporting conditions. Some causes are due to personal choices while others are beyond individual control. Unemployment has both positive and negative effects, although negative effects surpass positive effects. Welfare payments should be discouraged as they reduce the will of unemployed people to look for jobs (Stone 50).

People should be encouraged to look for a job instead of waiting on grants because they may not achieve financial freedom to satisfactory levels. In order to reduce the effects of unemployment, governments should develop and implement policies that regulate circumstances in which an employer can fire an employee (Dawson 90). This will prevent victimization of employees by employers who take advantage of weak policies on labor regulation and employee protection.

Dawson, Graham. Inflation and Unemployment: Causes, Consequences and Cures . California: University of California, 2008. Print.

Stone, Jack. Unemployment: The Shocking Truth of Its Causes, Its Outrageous Consequences and What Can Be Done About It . New York: Trafford on Demand Pub, 2007. Print.

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Organizing Your Argument

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How can I effectively present my argument?

In order for your argument to be persuasive, it must use an organizational structure that the audience perceives as both logical and easy to parse. Three argumentative methods —the  Toulmin Method , Classical Method , and Rogerian Method — give guidance for how to organize the points in an argument.

Note that these are only three of the most popular models for organizing an argument. Alternatives exist. Be sure to consult your instructor and/or defer to your assignment’s directions if you’re unsure which to use (if any).

Toulmin Method

The  Toulmin Method  is a formula that allows writers to build a sturdy logical foundation for their arguments. First proposed by author Stephen Toulmin in  The Uses of Argument (1958), the Toulmin Method emphasizes building a thorough support structure for each of an argument's key claims.

The basic format for the Toulmin Method  is as follows:

Claim:  In this section, you explain your overall thesis on the subject. In other words, you make your main argument.

Data (Grounds):  You should use evidence to support the claim. In other words, provide the reader with facts that prove your argument is strong.

Warrant (Bridge):  In this section, you explain why or how your data supports the claim. As a result, the underlying assumption that you build your argument on is grounded in reason.

Backing (Foundation):  Here, you provide any additional logic or reasoning that may be necessary to support the warrant.

Counterclaim:  You should anticipate a counterclaim that negates the main points in your argument. Don't avoid arguments that oppose your own. Instead, become familiar with the opposing perspective.   If you respond to counterclaims, you appear unbiased (and, therefore, you earn the respect of your readers). You may even want to include several counterclaims to show that you have thoroughly researched the topic.

Rebuttal:  In this section, you incorporate your own evidence that disagrees with the counterclaim. It is essential to include a thorough warrant or bridge to strengthen your essay’s argument. If you present data to your audience without explaining how it supports your thesis, your readers may not make a connection between the two, or they may draw different conclusions.

Example of the Toulmin Method:

Claim:  Hybrid cars are an effective strategy to fight pollution.

Data1:  Driving a private car is a typical citizen's most air-polluting activity.

Warrant 1:  Due to the fact that cars are the largest source of private (as opposed to industrial) air pollution, switching to hybrid cars should have an impact on fighting pollution.

Data 2:  Each vehicle produced is going to stay on the road for roughly 12 to 15 years.

Warrant 2:  Cars generally have a long lifespan, meaning that the decision to switch to a hybrid car will make a long-term impact on pollution levels.

Data 3:  Hybrid cars combine a gasoline engine with a battery-powered electric motor.

Warrant 3:  The combination of these technologies produces less pollution.

Counterclaim:  Instead of focusing on cars, which still encourages an inefficient culture of driving even as it cuts down on pollution, the nation should focus on building and encouraging the use of mass transit systems.

Rebuttal:  While mass transit is an idea that should be encouraged, it is not feasible in many rural and suburban areas, or for people who must commute to work. Thus, hybrid cars are a better solution for much of the nation's population.

Rogerian Method

The Rogerian Method  (named for, but not developed by, influential American psychotherapist Carl R. Rogers) is a popular method for controversial issues. This strategy seeks to find a common ground between parties by making the audience understand perspectives that stretch beyond (or even run counter to) the writer’s position. Moreso than other methods, it places an emphasis on reiterating an opponent's argument to his or her satisfaction. The persuasive power of the Rogerian Method lies in its ability to define the terms of the argument in such a way that:

  • your position seems like a reasonable compromise.
  • you seem compassionate and empathetic.

The basic format of the Rogerian Method  is as follows:

Introduction:  Introduce the issue to the audience, striving to remain as objective as possible.

Opposing View : Explain the other side’s position in an unbiased way. When you discuss the counterargument without judgement, the opposing side can see how you do not directly dismiss perspectives which conflict with your stance.

Statement of Validity (Understanding):  This section discusses how you acknowledge how the other side’s points can be valid under certain circumstances. You identify how and why their perspective makes sense in a specific context, but still present your own argument.

Statement of Your Position:  By this point, you have demonstrated that you understand the other side’s viewpoint. In this section, you explain your own stance.

Statement of Contexts : Explore scenarios in which your position has merit. When you explain how your argument is most appropriate for certain contexts, the reader can recognize that you acknowledge the multiple ways to view the complex issue.

Statement of Benefits:  You should conclude by explaining to the opposing side why they would benefit from accepting your position. By explaining the advantages of your argument, you close on a positive note without completely dismissing the other side’s perspective.

Example of the Rogerian Method:

Introduction:  The issue of whether children should wear school uniforms is subject to some debate.

Opposing View:  Some parents think that requiring children to wear uniforms is best.

Statement of Validity (Understanding):  Those parents who support uniforms argue that, when all students wear the same uniform, the students can develop a unified sense of school pride and inclusiveness.

Statement of Your Position : Students should not be required to wear school uniforms. Mandatory uniforms would forbid choices that allow students to be creative and express themselves through clothing.

Statement of Contexts:  However, even if uniforms might hypothetically promote inclusivity, in most real-life contexts, administrators can use uniform policies to enforce conformity. Students should have the option to explore their identity through clothing without the fear of being ostracized.

Statement of Benefits:  Though both sides seek to promote students' best interests, students should not be required to wear school uniforms. By giving students freedom over their choice, students can explore their self-identity by choosing how to present themselves to their peers.

Classical Method

The Classical Method of structuring an argument is another common way to organize your points. Originally devised by the Greek philosopher Aristotle (and then later developed by Roman thinkers like Cicero and Quintilian), classical arguments tend to focus on issues of definition and the careful application of evidence. Thus, the underlying assumption of classical argumentation is that, when all parties understand the issue perfectly, the correct course of action will be clear.

The basic format of the Classical Method  is as follows:

Introduction (Exordium): Introduce the issue and explain its significance. You should also establish your credibility and the topic’s legitimacy.

Statement of Background (Narratio): Present vital contextual or historical information to the audience to further their understanding of the issue. By doing so, you provide the reader with a working knowledge about the topic independent of your own stance.

Proposition (Propositio): After you provide the reader with contextual knowledge, you are ready to state your claims which relate to the information you have provided previously. This section outlines your major points for the reader.

Proof (Confirmatio): You should explain your reasons and evidence to the reader. Be sure to thoroughly justify your reasons. In this section, if necessary, you can provide supplementary evidence and subpoints.

Refutation (Refuatio): In this section, you address anticipated counterarguments that disagree with your thesis. Though you acknowledge the other side’s perspective, it is important to prove why your stance is more logical.  

Conclusion (Peroratio): You should summarize your main points. The conclusion also caters to the reader’s emotions and values. The use of pathos here makes the reader more inclined to consider your argument.  

Example of the Classical Method:  

Introduction (Exordium): Millions of workers are paid a set hourly wage nationwide. The federal minimum wage is standardized to protect workers from being paid too little. Research points to many viewpoints on how much to pay these workers. Some families cannot afford to support their households on the current wages provided for performing a minimum wage job .

Statement of Background (Narratio): Currently, millions of American workers struggle to make ends meet on a minimum wage. This puts a strain on workers’ personal and professional lives. Some work multiple jobs to provide for their families.

Proposition (Propositio): The current federal minimum wage should be increased to better accommodate millions of overworked Americans. By raising the minimum wage, workers can spend more time cultivating their livelihoods.

Proof (Confirmatio): According to the United States Department of Labor, 80.4 million Americans work for an hourly wage, but nearly 1.3 million receive wages less than the federal minimum. The pay raise will alleviate the stress of these workers. Their lives would benefit from this raise because it affects multiple areas of their lives.

Refutation (Refuatio): There is some evidence that raising the federal wage might increase the cost of living. However, other evidence contradicts this or suggests that the increase would not be great. Additionally,   worries about a cost of living increase must be balanced with the benefits of providing necessary funds to millions of hardworking Americans.

Conclusion (Peroratio): If the federal minimum wage was raised, many workers could alleviate some of their financial burdens. As a result, their emotional wellbeing would improve overall. Though some argue that the cost of living could increase, the benefits outweigh the potential drawbacks.

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ADDRESSING YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES: A policy analysis of JobStart and Enterprise-led Learning Networks (ELLN)

Intended to be an evidence-based policy support for Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) in its continued quest to lower youth unemployment in the Philippines, this issue paper embodies a “choice-problem” type of policy analysis which puts utmost emphasis on both problem analysis and solution analysis.

IOn the one side, the problem analysis reveals various causes and effects of high youth unemployment in the country. Per the problem structuring, there are at least 14 possible causes identified, of which 8 are deemed plausible causes based from review of relevant literature and author’s own previous studies. From the vantage point of BLE, six (6) out of the 8 plausible causes are considered actionable causes. Among the six (6) actionable causes, the policy analysis focuses on SWT and job-skills mismatch. Meanwhile, effects of high youth unemployment EXECUTIVE SUMMARY in the Philippines include, but not limited to the following: hampered economic growth; persistence of poverty and inequality; persistence of unemployment; low returns to human capital investment; social exclusion; and mental health scarring.

IOn the other side, solution analysis revolves around the evaluation of the identified/formulated policy alternatives being proposed for BLE’s consideration: (1) continue JobStart implementation (status quo or no action alternative); (2) terminate implementation of JobStart Program and replace it with Enterprise-led Learning Networks (ELLN); and (3) continue implementing JobStart and then introduce ELLN as a complementary program..

Click Here to Download Full Issue Paper

Title:  ADDRESSING YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES: A policy analysis of JobStart and Enterprise-led Learning Networks (ELLN)

Researcher: John Emmanuel B. Villanueva 

Unemployment Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on unemployment.

Unemployment is a very serious issue not only in India but in the whole world. There are hundreds and thousands of people out there who do not have employment . Besides, the problems of unemployment are very severe in India because of the growing population and demand for jobs. Moreover, if we neglect this problem then it will be going to become the reason for the doom of the nation.

Unemployment Essay

What is Unemployment?

Unemployment refers to a situation in which a skilled and talented people wanted to do a job. But cannot find a proper job due to several reasons.

Types of Unemployment

Now we know what is unemployment but unemployment does not only mean that the person does not have a job. Likewise, unemployment also includes people working in areas out of their expertise.

The various types of unemployment include disguised unemployment, seasonal unemployment, open unemployment, technological unemployment, structural unemployment. Besides, some other unemployment is cyclic unemployment, educated unemployment, underemployment, frictional unemployment, chronic unemployment, and casual unemployment.

Above all, seasonal unemployment, under unemployment, and disguised unemployment are the most common unemployment that is found in India.

Reasons for Unemployment

In a country like India, there is much reason for a large section of the population for being unemployed. Some of these factors are population growth, slow economic growth , seasonal occupation, slow growth of the economic sector, and fall in the cottage industry.

Moreover, these are the major reason for unemployment in India. Also, the situation has become so drastic that highly educated people are ready to do the job of a sweeper. Besides, the government is not doing his work seriously.

Apart from all these, a large portion of the population is engaged in the agricultural sector and the sector only provides employment in harvest or plantation time.

In addition, the biggest reason of unemployment in India is its vast population which demands a large number of jobs every year which the government and authorities are unable to provide.

Consequences of Unemployment

If things will go on like the current scenario then unemployment will become a major issue. Apart from this, the following things happen in an economy which is an increase in poverty, an increase in crime rate, exploitation of labor, political instability, mental health, and loss of skills. As a result, all this will eventually lead to the demise of the nation.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Initiative by Government

The government has taken the problem very seriously and have taken measures to slowly reduce unemployment. Some of these schemes includes IRDP (Integrated Rural Development Programme), DPAP (Drought Prone Area Programme), Jawahar Rozgar Yojana, Employment Assurance Scheme, NRY (Nehru Rozgar Yojana), Training for self-Employment, PMIUPEP (Prime Minister’s Integrated Urban Poverty Eradication Program), employment exchange, Employment Guarantee Scheme, development of organized sector, small and cottage industries, employment in forging countries, and Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana and few more.

Besides, these schemes the government also make some rules flexible, so that employment can be created in the private sector also.

To conclude, we can say that the problem of unemployment in India has reached a critical stage. But, now the government and local authorities have taken the problem seriously and working on it to reduce unemployment. Also, to completely solve the issue of unemployment we have to tackle the main issue of unemployment that is the vast population of India.

FAQs about Unemployment

Q.1 Why there is a problem of unemployment in India? A.1 Due to overpopulation and lack of proper skills there is a problem of unemployment in India.

Q.2 Define Disguised unemployment? A.2 Disguised unemployment refers to a form of employment in which more than the required numbers of people work in industry or factory. And removing some employee will not affect productivity.

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argumentative essay on youth unemployment

Chapter 13 Introductory Essay: 1945-1960

argumentative essay on youth unemployment

Written by: Patrick Allitt, Emory University

By the end of this section, you will:.

  • Explain the context for societal change from 1945 to 1960
  • Explain the extent to which the events of the period from 1945 to 1960 reshaped national identity

Introduction

World War II ended in 1945. The United States and the Soviet Union had cooperated to defeat Nazi Germany, but they mistrusted each other. Joseph Stalin, the Soviet dictator, believed the Americans had waited too long before launching the D-Day invasion of France in 1944, leaving his people to bear the full brunt of the German war machine. It was true that Soviet casualties were more than 20 million, whereas American casualties in all theaters of war were fewer than half a million.

On the other hand, Harry Truman, Franklin Roosevelt’s vice president, who had become president after Roosevelt’s death in April 1945, believed Stalin had betrayed a promise made to Roosevelt at the  Yalta summit  in February 1945. That promise was to permit all the nations of Europe to become independent and self-governing at the war’s end. Instead, Stalin installed Soviet  puppet governments  in Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Hungary, and Bulgaria, the parts of Europe his armies had recaptured from the Nazis.

These tensions between the two countries set the stage for the Cold War that came to dominate foreign and domestic policy during the postwar era. The world’s two superpowers turned from allies into ideological and strategic enemies as they struggled to protect and spread their systems around the world, while at the same time developing arsenals of nuclear weapons that could destroy it. Domestically, the United States emerged from the war as the world’s unchallenged economic powerhouse and enjoyed great prosperity from pent-up consumer demand and industrial dominance. Americans generally supported preserving the New Deal welfare state and the postwar anti-communist crusade. While millions of white middle-class Americans moved to settle down in the suburbs, African Americans had fought a war against racism abroad and were prepared to challenge it at home.

The Truman Doctrine and the Cold War

Journalists nicknamed the deteriorating relationship between the two great powers a “ cold war ,” and the name stuck. In the short run, America possessed the great advantage of being the only possessor of nuclear weapons as a result of the Manhattan Project. It had used two of them against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end the war in the Far East, with destructive power so fearsome it deterred Soviet aggression. But after nearly four years of war, Truman was reluctant to risk a future conflict. Instead, with congressional support, he pledged to keep American forces in Europe to prevent any more Soviet advances. This was the “ Truman Doctrine ,” a dramatic contrast with the American decision after World War I to withdraw from European affairs. (See the  Harry S. Truman, “Truman Doctrine” Address, March 1947   Primary Source.)

Presidential portrait of Harry Truman.

President Harry Truman pictured here in his official presidential portrait pledged to counter Soviet geopolitical expansion with his “Truman Doctrine.”

The National Security Act, passed by Congress in 1947, reorganized the relationship between the military forces and the government. It created the National Security Council (NSC), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the office of Secretary of Defense. The Air Force, previously a branch of the U.S. Army, now became independent, a reflection of its new importance in an era of nuclear weapons. Eventually, NSC-68, a secret memorandum from 1950, was used to authorize large increases in American military strength and aid to its allies, aiming to ensure a high degree of readiness for war against the Soviet Union.

What made the Soviet Union tick? George Kennan, an American diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow who knew the Soviets as well as anyone in American government, wrote an influential article titled “The Sources of Soviet Conduct.” Originally sent from Moscow as a long telegram, it was later published in the journal  Foreign Affairs  under the byline “X” and impressed nearly all senior American policy makers in Washington, DC. The Soviets, said Kennan, believed capitalism and communism could not coexist and that they would be perpetually at war until one was destroyed. According to Kennan, the Soviets believed communism was destined to dominate the world. They were disciplined and patient, however, and understood “the logic of force.” Therefore, said Kennan, the United States must be equally patient, keeping watch everywhere to “contain” the threat.

Containment  became the guiding principle of U.S. anti-Soviet policy, under which the United States deployed military, economic, and cultural resources to halt Soviet expansion. In 1948, the United States gave more than $12 billion to Western Europe to relieve suffering and help rebuild and integrate the economies through the Marshall Plan. The Europeans would thus not turn to communism in their desperation and America would promote mutual prosperity through trade. The Berlin crisis of 1948–1949 was the policy’s first great test. (See the  George Kennan (“Mr. X”), “Sources of Soviet Conduct,” July 1947  Primary Source.)

Berlin, jointly occupied by the major powers, lay inside Soviet-dominated East Germany, but access roads led to it from the West. In June 1948, Soviet forces cut these roads, hoping the Americans would permit the whole of Berlin to fall into the Soviet sphere rather than risk war. Truman and his advisors, recognizing the symbolic importance of Berlin but reluctant to fire the first shot, responded by having supplies flown into West Berlin, using aircraft that had dropped bombs on Berlin just three years earlier. Grateful Berliners called them the “raisin bombers” in tribute to one of the foods they brought.

After 11 months, recognizing their plan had failed, the Soviets relented. West Berlin remained part of West Germany, making the first test of containment a success. On the other hand, the United States was powerless to prevent a complete Communist takeover in Czechoslovakia, whose government had shown some elements of independence from Moscow’s direction. (See  The Berlin Airlift  Narrative.)

Alarm about the Czech situation hastened the American decision to begin re-arming West Germany, where an imperfect and incomplete process of “de-Nazification” had taken place. The United States also supervised the creation in 1949 of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), an alliance of Western nations to forestall Soviet aggression in central Europe. The U.S. government also continued research on and development of new and more powerful nuclear weapons. Americans were dismayed to learn, in 1949, that the Soviets had successfully tested an atomic bomb of their own, greatly facilitated by information provided by Soviet spies. Europe and much of the world were divided between the world’s two superpowers and their allies.

Secretary of State Dean Acheson sits at a desk on a stage signing the North Atlantic Treaty. Three men stand around him behind the desk. They face a crowd sitting in pews.

U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson along with the foreign ministers of Canada and 10 European nations gathered to sign the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4 1949 founding NATO.

Postwar Uncertainty

The postwar years were politically volatile ones all over the world, due to widespread decolonization. Britain, though allied with the United States during World War II, had been weakened by the conflict and could no longer dominate its remote colonies. The British Empire was shrinking drastically, and this made the Truman Doctrine all the more necessary. In 1947, an economically desperate Britain reluctantly granted India and Pakistan the independence their citizens had sought for years. Britain’s African colonies gained independence in the 1950s and early 1960s. The United States and the Soviet Union each struggled to win over the former British colonies to their own ideological side of the Cold War. (See the  Who Was Responsible for Starting the Cold War?  Point-Counterpoint and  Winston Churchill, “Sinews of Peace,” March 1946  Primary Source.)

Israel came into existence on May 14, 1948, on land that had been a British-controlled  mandate  since the end of World War I. The Zionist movement, founded in the 1890s by Austro-Hungarian journalist Theodore Herzl, had encouraged European Jews to immigrate to Palestine. There, they would buy land, become farmers, and eventually create a Jewish state. Tens of thousands, indeed, had migrated there and prospered between 1900 and 1945. Widespread sympathy for the Jews, six million of whom had been exterminated in the Nazi Holocaust, prompted the new United Nations to authorize the partition of Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab. From the very beginning, these two states were at war, with all the neighboring Arab states uniting to threaten Israel’s survival. President Truman supported Israel, however, and in the ensuing decades, most American politicians, and virtually all the American Jewish population, supported and strengthened it.

In 1949, a decades-long era of chaos, conquest, and revolution in China ended with the triumph of Mao Zedong, leader of a Communist army. Against him, America had backed Chiang Kai-Shek, the Chinese Nationalist leader, whose defeated forces fled to the offshore island of Taiwan. American anti-communist politicians in Washington, DC, pointed to the growing “red” (Communist) areas of the map as evidence that communism was winning the struggle for the world. Domestically, Truman and the Democrats endured charges that they had “lost” China to communism.

War in Korea

Korea, one of the many parts of Asia that Japan had conquered in the earlier twentieth century but then lost in 1945, was now partitioned into a pro-Communist North and an anti-Communist South. In June 1950, the Truman administration was taken by surprise when North Korea attacked the South, overpowering its army and forcing the survivors back into a small area of the country’s southeast, the Pusan perimeter. Truman and his advisors quickly concluded they should apply the containment principle to Asia and procured a resolution of support from the United Nations, which was unanimous because the Soviet representatives were not present in the Security Council during the vote. See the  Truman Intervenes in Korea  Decision Point.)

A group of soldiers gather around a large cannon-like gun.

U.S. troops were sent to Korea shortly after Truman’s decision to apply containment to the region. Pictured is a U.S. gun crew near the Kum River in July 1950.

An American invasion force led by General Douglas MacArthur thus made a daring counterattack, landing at Inchon, near Seoul on the west coast of the Korean peninsula, on September 15, 1950. At once, this attack turned the tables in the war, forcing the North Koreans into retreat. Rather than simply restore the old boundary, however, MacArthur’s force advanced deep into North Korea, ultimately approaching the Chinese border. At this point, in October 1950, Mao Zedong sent tens of thousands of Chinese Communist soldiers into the conflict on the side of North Korea. They turned the tide of the war once again, forcing the American forces to fall back in disarray.

After a brutal winter of hard fighting in Korea, the front lines stabilized around the  38th parallel . MacArthur, already a hero of World War II in the Pacific, had burnished his reputation at Inchon. In April 1951, however, he crossed the line in civil-military relations that bars soldiers from dabbling in politics by publicly criticizing one of President Truman’s strategic decisions not to expand the war against the Chinese. MacArthur was so popular in America, he had come to think the rules no longer applied to him, but they did. Truman fired him with no hesitation, replacing him with the equally competent but less egotistical General Matthew Ridgway. The war dragged on in a stalemate. Only in 1953, after the inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, was a truce declared between the two Koreas. It has held uneasily ever since. (See  The Korean War and The Battle of Chosin Reservoir  Narrative.)

Prosperity and the Baby Boom

The late 1940s and early 1950s were paradoxical. They were years of great geopolitical stress, danger, and upheaval, yet they were also a time of prosperity and opportunity for millions of ordinary American citizens. Far more babies were born each year than in the 1930s, resulting in the large “ baby boom ” generation. Millions of new houses were built to meet a need accumulated over the long years of the Great Depression and the war. Suburbs expanded around every city, creating far better and less-crowded living conditions than ever before. Levittown housing developments were just one example of the planned communities with mass-produced homes across the country that made homeownership within the reach of many, though mostly white families, thanks to cheap loans for returning veterans (See the  Levittown Videos, 1947–1957  Primary Source). Wages and living standards increased, and more American consumers found they could afford their own homes, cars, refrigerators, air conditioners, and even television sets—TV was then a new and exciting technology. The entire nation breathed a sigh of relief on discovering that peace did not bring a return of depression-era conditions and widespread unemployment. (See  The Sound of the Suburbs  Lesson.)

An American family sits in a living room around a television.

Television became a staple in U.S. households during the 1940s and 1950s.

Full employment during the war years had strengthened trade unions, but for patriotic reasons, nearly all industrial workers had cooperated with their employers. Now that the war was over, a rash of strikes for better pay and working conditions broke out. In 1945, Truman expanded presidential power by seizing coal mines, arguing it was in the national interest because coal supplied electricity. He then forced the United Mine Workers to end their strike the following year.

Although coal miners won their demands, the power of organized labor waned over the next few decades. Republican members of Congress, whose party had triumphed in the 1946 mid-term elections, passed the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947, aiming to curb the power of unions by banning the closed shop, allowing states to protect the right to work outside the union, setting regulations to limit labor strikes and excluding supporters of the Communist Party and other social radicals from their leadership. Truman vetoed the act, but Congress overrode the veto. In 1952, Truman attempted to again seize a key industry and forestall a strike among steelworkers. However, the Supreme Court decided in  Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer  (1952) that Truman lacked the constitutional authority to seize private property, and steelworkers won significant concessions.

Watch this BRI AP U.S. History Exam Study Guide about the Post-WWII Boom: Transition to a Consumer Economy to explore the post-World War II economic boom in the United States and its impacts on society.

Joseph McCarthy and the Red Scare

Fear of communism, not only abroad but at home, was one of the postwar era’s great obsessions. Ever since the Russian Revolution of 1917, a small and dedicated American Communist Party had aimed to overthrow capitalism and create a Communist America. Briefly popular during the crisis of the Great Depression and again when Stalin was an American ally in World War II, the party shrank during the early Cold War years. Rising politicians like the young California congressman Richard Nixon nevertheless discovered that anti-Communism was a useful issue for gaining visibility. Nixon helped win publicity for the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), whose hearings urged former communists to expose their old comrades in the name of national security, especially in government and Hollywood. In 1947, President Truman issued Executive Order No. 9835, establishing loyalty boards investigating the communist sympathies of 2.5 million federal employees. (See  The Postwar Red Scare  and the  Cold War Spy Cases  Narratives.)

The most unscrupulous anti-communist was Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (R-WI), who used fear of communism as a powerful political issue during the early Cold War. He made reckless allegations that the government was riddled with communists and their sympathizers, even including Secretary of State George Marshall. Intimidating all critics by accusing them of being part of a great communist conspiracy, McCarthy finally overplayed his hand in publicly televised hearings by accusing the U.S. Army of knowingly harboring communists among its senior officers. The Senate censured him in December 1954, after which his influence evaporated, but for four years, he had been one of the most important figures in American political life. Although he was correct that the Soviets had spies in the U.S. government, McCarthy created a climate of fear and ruined the lives of innocent people for his own political gain during what became known as the “Second Red Scare.” (See the  McCarthyism DBQ  Lesson.)

Joseph McCarthy turns to talk to Roy Cohn who sits next to him.

Senator Joseph McCarthy (left) is pictured with his lawyer Roy Cohn during the 1950s McCarthy-Army clash.

Be sure to check out this  BRI Homework Help video about The Rise and Fall of Joseph McCarthy  to learn more about Joseph McCarthy and his battle against communists in the U.S. government.

Several highly publicized spy cases commanded national attention. Klaus Fuchs and other scientists with detailed knowledge of the Manhattan Project were caught passing nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union. In 1950, Alger Hiss was prosecuted for perjury before Congress and accused of sharing State Department documents with the Soviets. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were tried for espionage in 1951 and executed two years later. Julius was convicted of running a spy ring associated with selling atomic secrets to the Russians, though the case against Ethel’s direct involvement was thinner.

From Truman to Eisenhower

After the 1946 midterm election, in which Republicans won a majority in the House and the Senate, the Democratic President Truman struggled to advance his domestic program, called the Fair Deal in an echo of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. For instance, Truman was the first American president to propose a system of universal health care, but the Republican Congress voted it down because they opposed the cost and regulations associated with the government program and called it “socialized medicine.” Truman did succeed in other areas. He was able to encourage Congress to pass the Employment Act of 1946, committing the government to ensuring full employment. By executive order, he desegregated the American armed forces and commissioned a report on African American civil rights. He thus played an important role in helping advance the early growth of the civil rights movement.

Truman seemed certain to lose his re-election bid in 1948. The Republicans had an attractive candidate in Thomas Dewey, and Truman’s own Democratic Party was splintering three ways. Former Vice President Henry Wallace led a Progressive breakaway, advocating a less confrontational approach to the Cold War. Strom Thurmond, a South Carolina senator, led the southern “Dixiecrat” breakaway by opposing any breach in racial segregation. The  Chicago Daily Tribune  was so sure Dewey would win that it prematurely printed its front page with the headline “Dewey Defeats Truman.” One of the most famous photographs in the history of American journalism shows Truman, who had upset the pollsters by winning, holding a copy of this newspaper aloft and grinning broadly.

Truman smiling holds up a newspaper with a headline that reads

President Truman is pictured here holding the Chicago Daily Tribune with its inaccurate 1948 headline.

Four years later, exhausted by Korea and the fierce stresses of the early Cold War, Truman declined to run for another term. Both parties hoped to attract the popular Supreme Allied commander, Dwight D. Eisenhower, to be their candidate. He accepted the Republicans’ invitation, defeated Adlai Stevenson in November 1952, and won against the same rival again in 1956.

Rather than roll back the New Deal, which had greatly increased the size and reach of the federal government since 1933, Eisenhower accepted most of it as a permanent part of the system, in line with his philosophy of “Modern Republicanism.” He worked with Congress to balance the budget but signed bills for the expansion of Social Security and unemployment benefits, a national highway system, federal aid to education, and the creation of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In foreign policy, he recognized that for the foreseeable future, the Cold War was here to stay and that each side’s possession of nuclear weapons deterred an attack by the other. The two sides’ nuclear arsenals escalated during the 1950s, soon reaching a condition known as “ mutually assured destruction ,” which carried the ominous acronym MAD and would supposedly prevent a nuclear war.

At the same time, Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Foster Dulles supported the “New Look” foreign policy, which increased reliance on nuclear weapons rather than the more flexible but costly buildup of conventional armed forces. Despite the Cold War consensus about containment, Eisenhower did not send troops when the Vietnamese defeated the French in Vietnam; when mainland China bombed the Taiwanese islands of Quemoy and Matsu; when the British, French, and Egypt fought over the Suez Canal in 1956; or when the Soviets cracked down on Hungary. Instead, Eisenhower assumed financial responsibility for the French war effort in Vietnam and sent hundreds of military advisers there over the next several years. (See the  Dwight D. Eisenhower, Farewell Address, January 1961  Primary Source.)

Birth of the Civil Rights Movement

Encouraged by early signs of a change in national racial policy and by the Supreme Court’s decision in  Brown v. Board of Education  (1954) , African American organizations intensified their efforts to challenge southern segregation. Martin Luther King Jr., then a spellbinding young preacher in Montgomery, Alabama, led a Montgomery bus boycott that began in December 1955. Inspired by the refusal of Rosa Parks to give up her seat on a city bus, African Americans refused to ride Montgomery’s buses unless the company abandoned its policy of forcing them to ride at the back and to give up their seats to whites when the bus was crowded. After a year, the boycott succeeded. King went on to create the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which practiced nonviolent resistance as a tactic, attracting press attention, embarrassing the agents of segregation, and promoting racial integration. (See the  Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Montgomery Bus Boycott  Narrative and the  Rosa Parks’s Account of the Montgomery Bus Boycott (Radio Interview), April 1956  Primary Source.)

In 1957, Congress passed the first federal protection of civil rights since Reconstruction and empowered the federal government to protect black voting rights. However, the bill was watered down and did not lead to significant change. In August, black students tried to attend high school in Little Rock, Arkansas, but were blocked by National Guard troops. Over the next few weeks, angry crowds assembled and threatened these students. President Eisenhower decided to send in federal troops to protect the nine black students. In the postwar era, African Americans won some victories in the fight for equality, but many southern whites began a campaign of massive resistance to that goal.

Check out this BRI Homework Help video about Brown v. Board of Education to learn more about the details of the case.

Thus, the pace of school desegregation across the south remained very slow. White southerners in Congress promised massive resistance to the policy. When it came to the point, however, only one county, Prince Edward County, Virginia, actually closed down its public schools rather than permit them to be desegregated. Other districts, gradually and reluctantly, eventually undertook integration, but widespread discrimination persisted, especially in the South.

Mexican Americans, like African Americans, suffered from racial discrimination. Under the  bracero  program, inaugurated during the 1940s, Mexicans were permitted to enter the United States temporarily to work, mainly as farm laborers in the western states, but they too were treated by whites as second-class citizens. They were guest workers, and the program was not intended to put them on a path to U.S. citizenship. (See  The Little Rock Nine  Narrative.)

A crowd of Mexican workers fill a courtyard.

Pictured are Mexican workers waiting to gain legal employment and enter the United States as part of the “ bracero ” program begun in the 1940s.

The Space Race

The desegregation of schools was only one aspect of public concern about education in the 1950s. The Soviet Union launched an artificial orbiting satellite, “Sputnik,” in 1957 and ignited the “ Space Race .” Most Americans were horrified, understanding that a rocket able to carry a satellite into space could also carry a warhead to the United States. Congress reacted by passing the National Defense Education Act in August 1958, devoting $1 billion of federal funds to education in science, engineering, and technology in the hope of improving the nation’s scientific talent pool.

NASA had been created earlier that same year to coordinate programs related to rocketry and space travel. NASA managed to catch up with the Soviet space program in the ensuing years and later triumphed by placing the first person on the moon in 1969. Better space rockets meant better military missiles. NASA programs also stimulated useful technological discoveries in materials, navigation, and computers. (See the  Sputnik and NASA  Narrative and the  Was Federal Spending on the Space Race Justified?  Point-Counterpoint.)

Another major initiative, also defense related, of the Eisenhower years was the decision to build the interstate highway system. As a young officer just after World War I, Eisenhower had been part of an Army truck convoy that attempted to cross the United States. Terrible roads meant that the convoy took 62 days, with many breakdowns and 21 injuries to the soldiers, an experience Eisenhower never forgot. He had also been impressed by the high quality of Germany’s autobahns near the war’s end. A comprehensive national system across the United States would permit military convoys to move quickly and efficiently. Commerce, the trucking industry, and tourism would benefit too, a belief borne out over the next 35 years while the system was built; it was declared finished in 1992. See  The National Highway Act  Narrative and the  Nam Paik,  Electronic Superhighway , 1995  Primary Source.)

New Roles for Women

American women, especially in the large and growing middle class, were in a paradoxical situation in the 1950s. In one sense, they were the most materially privileged generation of women in world history, wealthier than any predecessors. More had gained college education than ever before, and millions were marrying young, raising their children with advice from Dr. Spock’s best-selling  Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care  (1946), and enjoying labor-saving domestic devices and modern conveniences like washing machines, toasters, and electric ovens. Affluence meant many middle-class women were driving cars of their own. This  1950s advertisement for Ford automobiles  persuaded women to become a “two Ford family.” At the same time, however, some suffered various forms of depression and anxiety, seeking counseling, often medicating themselves, and feeling a lack of purpose in their lives.

This situation was noticed by Betty Friedan, a popular journalist in the 1950s whose book  The Feminine Mystique , published in 1963, helped ignite the new feminist movement. Its principal claim was that in America in the 1950s, women lacked fulfilling careers of their own, and material abundance was no substitute. (See the  Dr. Benjamin Spock and the Baby Boom  Narrative.) A feminist movement emerged in the 1960s and 1970s seeking greater equality. In the postwar period, however, not all women shared the same experiences. Millions of working-class and poor women of all races continued to work in factories, retail, domestic, or offices as they had before and during the war. Whether married or single, these women generally did not share in the postwar affluence enjoyed by middle-class, mostly white, women who were in the vanguard of the feminist movement for equal rights for women.

By 1960, the United States was, without question, in a superior position to its great rival the Soviet Union—richer, stronger, healthier, better fed, much freer, and much more powerful. Nevertheless Eisenhower, in his farewell address, warned against the dangers of an overdeveloped “military-industrial complex,” in which American traditions of democracy, decentralization, and civilian control would be swallowed up by the demands of the defense industry and a large, governmental national security apparatus. He had no easy remedies to offer and remained acutely aware that the Cold War continued to threaten the future of the world.

A timeline shows important events of the era. In 1946, George Kennan sends the Long Telegram from Moscow. In 1947, the Truman Doctrine is announced, and the first Levittown house is sold; an aerial photograph of Levittown, Pennsylvania, shows many rows of similar houses. In 1948, the Berlin Airlift begins; a photograph shows Berlin residents, watching as a plane above them prepares to land with needed supplies. In 1950, North Korean troops cross the thirty-eighth parallel. In 1952, Dwight D. Eisenhower is elected president; a photograph of Eisenhower is shown. In 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed for espionage; a photograph of the Rosenbergs behind a metal gate is shown. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court rules on Brown v. Board of Education, and Bill Haley and His Comets record “Rock Around the Clock”. In 1955, the Montgomery bus boycott begins; a photograph of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. is shown. In 1957, Little Rock’s Central High School integrates, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) launches Sputnik; a photograph of American soldiers on the street with the Little Rock Nine outside of the school is shown, and a photograph of a replica of Sputnik is shown.

Timeline of events in the postwar period from 1945 to 1960.

Additional Chapter Resources

  • Eleanor Roosevelt and the United Nations Narrative
  • The G.I. Bill Narrative
  • Jackie Robinson Narrative
  • The Murder of Emmett Till Narrative
  • The Nixon-Khrushchev Kitchen Debate Narrative
  • William F. Buckley Jr. and the Conservative Movement Narrative
  • Truman Fires General Douglas MacArthur Decision Point
  • Eisenhower and the Suez Canal Crisis Point-Counterpoint
  • Richard Nixon “Checkers” Speech September 1952 Primary Source
  • Critics of Postwar Culture: Jack Kerouac On the Road (Excerpts) 1957 Primary Source
  • Kennedy vs. Nixon: TV and Politics Lesson

Review Questions

1. The major deterrent to Soviet aggression in Europe immediately after World War II was

  • that the Soviets lost 20 million people during the war
  • the Truman Doctrine
  • the United States’ possession of atomic power
  • the presence of U.S. troops in western Europe after World War II was over

2. Why did the United States maintain large armed forces in Europe after World War II?

  • To stop renewed German aggression
  • To halt Soviet aggression despite the wartime alliance
  • To help the British relinquish their empire
  • To maintain high levels of employment at home

3. The memorandum NSC-68 authorized

  • the formation of the CIA
  • the creation of the Department of Defense
  • increases in the size of U.S. military forces
  • the formation of an independent air force

4. The United States’ first successful application of its policy of containment occurred in

  • Prague Czechoslovakia
  • Moscow U.S.S.R.
  • Berlin Germany
  • Bombay India

5. During the late 1940s the Truman Administration supported all the following countries except

  • Republic of Korea
  • People’s Republic of China

6. When North Korea invaded South Korea the Truman Administration resolved to apply which strategy?

  • The Truman Doctrine
  • Containment
  • A plan similar to the Berlin Airlift
  • The bracero program

7. Events in which European country led the United States to allow the re-arming of West Germany?

  • East Germany
  • Czechoslovakia

8. The Taft-Hartley Act was most likely passed as a result of

  • fear of labor involvement in radical politics and activities
  • concern that strong labor unions could rekindle a depression
  • fear that labor would restrict the freedom of workers
  • desire to make the labor strike illegal

9. Why was it reasonable to expect Truman to lose the presidential election of 1948?

  • McCarthyism was creating widespread dislike of the Democratic Party.
  • Truman had been unable to win the Korean War.
  • The Democratic Party split into three rival branches including one dedicated to racial segregation.
  • The Democrats had controlled Congress since 1933.

10. Why were many middle-class women dissatisfied with their lives in the 1950s?

  • They were excluded from most career opportunities.
  • The cost of living was too high.
  • Fear of losing their traditional roles caused them constant anxiety.
  • They opposed the early civil rights movement.

11. All the following were Cold War based initiatives by the Eisenhower Administration except

  • the creation of NASA
  • the National Defense Highway Act
  • the National Defense Education Act
  • the Taft-Hartley Act

12. Anti-communist crusader Senator Joseph McCarthy overplayed his advantage in the Red Scare when he

  • claimed members of the president’s Cabinet were known communists
  • charged Martin Luther King Jr. with being a communist
  • asserted the U.S. Army knowingly protected known communists in its leadership
  • hinted that President Eisenhower could be a communist

13. As a presidential candidate Dwight Eisenhower recognized the significance of all the following except

  • the success of some New Deal programs
  • the Cold War’s impact on U.S. foreign policy
  • racial integration
  • mutually assured destruction (MAD)

14. Which of the following statements most accurately describes the United States’ foreign policy during 1945-1960?

  • The United States distanced itself from the global free-market economy.
  • The United States based its foreign policy on unilateral decision-making.
  • The Cold War was based on military policy only.
  • The United States formed military alliances in reaction to the Soviet Union’s aggression.

15. Betty Friedan gained prominence by

  • supporting women’s traditional role at home
  • promoting the child-rearing ideas of Dr. Benjamin Spock
  • researching and writing about the unfulfilling domestic role of educated women
  • encouraging more women to attend college

16. Before leaving the office of the presidency Dwight D. Eisenhower warned the nation of the danger of

  • falling behind in the space race
  • having fewer nuclear weapons than the Soviet Union
  • allowing the growth of the military-industrial complex
  • overlooking communists within the federal government

Free Response Questions

  • Explain President Harry Truman’s reaction to the Taft-Hartley Act.
  • Describe President Truman’s role in advancing civil rights.
  • Describe Dwight D. Eisenhower’s reaction to the New Deal programs still in existence when he was elected president.
  • Explain the main reason for the United States’ military participation in Korea.

AP Practice Questions

Truman stands on a rug labeled Civil Rights. A crazy-looking woman “Miss Democracy stands off the rug looks angrily at Truman and says You mean you'd rather be right than president?

Political cartoon by Clifford Berryman regarding civil rights and the 1948 election.

1. The main topic of public debate at the time this political cartoon was published was the

  • deployment of U.S. troops in Korea
  • dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan
  • integration of the U.S. military

2. Which of the following groups would most likely support the sentiments expressed in the political cartoon?

  • Progressives who argued for prohibition
  • William Lloyd Garrison and like-minded abolitionists
  • Antebellum reformers in favor of free public education
  • Members of the America First Committee
“It would be an unspeakable tragedy if these countries which have struggled so long against overwhelming odds should lose that victory for which they sacrificed so much. Collapse of free institutions and loss of independence would be disastrous not only for them but for the world. Discouragement and possibly failure would quickly be the lot of neighboring peoples striving to maintain their freedom and independence. Should we fail to aid Greece and Turkey in this fateful hour the effect will be far reaching to the West as well as to the East. We must take immediate and resolute action. I therefore ask the Congress to provide authority for assistance to Greece and Turkey in the amount of $400 0 000 for the period ending June 30 1948.”

President Harry S. Truman The Truman Doctrine Speech March 12 1947

3. President Truman’s speech was most likely intended to increase the public’s awareness of

  • rising tensions over oil reserves in the Middle East
  • the Cold War and the struggle against Communism in Europe
  • the United States’ need for access to the Black Sea
  • the need to rebuild Europe after World War II

4. The immediate outcome of the event described in the excerpt was that

  • the United States unilaterally rebuilt Europe
  • worldwide freedom of the seas was guaranteed for all nations
  • the United States’ foreign policy of containment was successfully implemented
  • Europe was not as vital to U.S. interests as initially believed

5. Based on the ideas in the excerpt which of the following observations of U.S. foreign policy in the post World War II years is true?

  • The United States was making a major shift in foreign policy from its stance after World War I.
  • More people opposed the idea of U.S. involvement in world affairs.
  • A majority believed that U.S. foreign policy was being dictated by the United Nations.
  • The United States needed to reassert the “Good Neighbor Policy” but with a focus on Europe.
“Women especially educated women such as you have a unique opportunity to influence us man and boy and to play a direct part in the unfolding drama of our free society. But I am told that nowadays the young wife or mother is short of time for the subtle arts that things are not what they used to be; that once immersed in the very pressing and particular problems of domesticity many women feel frustrated and far apart from the great issues and stirring debates for which their education has given them understanding and relish. . . . There is often a sense of contraction of closing horizons and lost opportunities. They had hoped to play their part in the crisis of the age. . . . The point is that . . . women “never had it so good” as you do. And in spite of the difficulties of domesticity you have a way to participate actively in the crisis in addition to keeping yourself and those about you straight on the difference between means and ends mind and spirit reason and emotion . . . In modern America the home is not the boundary of a woman’s life. . . . But even more important is the fact surely that what you have learned and can learn will fit you for the primary task of making homes and whole human beings in whom the rational values of freedom tolerance charity and free inquiry can take root.”

Adlai Stevenson “A Purpose for Modern Women” from his Commencement Address at Smith College 1955

6. Which of the following best mirrors the sentiments expressed by Adlai Stevenson in the provided excerpt?

  • Women should be prepared to return to a more traditional role in society.
  • The ideals espoused by Republican Motherhood should be upheld.
  • The United States would not have won World War II if women had not worked in factories.
  • Women had the opportunity to influence the next generation of citizens.

7. The reference that “many women feel frustrated and far apart from the great issues and stirring debates for which their education has given them understanding and relish” is a reference to the ideas espoused by

  • Martin Luther King Jr.
  • Betty Friedan
  • Dr. Benjamin Spock

Primary Sources

Eisenhower Dwight D. “Eisenhower’s Farewell Address to the Nation.” http://mcadams.posc.mu.edu/ike.htm

Eisenhower Dwight D. “Interstate Highway System.” Eisenhower proposes the interstate highway system to Congress. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/special-message-the-congress-regarding-national-highway-program

“‘Enemies from Within’: Senator Joseph R. McCarthy’s Accusations of Disloyalty.” McCarthy’s speech in Wheeling West Virginia. http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6456

Friedan Betty. The Feminine Mystique . New York: W. W. Norton 1963.

Hamilton Shane and Sarah Phillips. Kitchen Debate and Cold War Consumer Politics: A Brief History with Documents . Boston: Bedford Books 2014.

Kennan George F. American Diplomacy . New York: Signet/Penguin Publishing 1952.

King Martin Luther Jr. “(1955) Martin Luther King Jr. ‘The Montgomery Bus Boycott.'” http://www.blackpast.org/1955-martin-luther-king-jr-montgomery-bus-boycott

King Martin Luther Jr. Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story . New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers 1958.

MacLean Nancy. American Women’s Movement 1945-2000: A Brief History with Documents . Boston: Bedford Books 2009.

Marshall George C. “The ‘Marshall Plan’ speech at Harvard University 5 June 1947.” http://www.oecd.org/general/themarshallplanspeechatharvarduniversity5june1947.htm

Martin Waldo E. Jr. Brown v. Board of Education: A Brief History with Documents . Boston: Bedford Books 1998.

Schrecker Ellen W. The Age of McCarthyism: A Brief History with Documents . Boston: Bedford Books 2016.

Story Ronald and Bruce Laurie. Rise of Conservatism in America 1945-2000: A Brief History with Documents. Boston: Bedford Books 2008.

Truman Harry. “A Report to the National Security Council – NSC 68 April 12 1950.” https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/research-files/report-national-security-council-nsc-68

Truman Harry. “The Fateful Hour (1947)” speech. http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/harrystrumantrumandoctrine.html

Suggested Resources

Ambrose Stephen and Douglas Brinkley. Rise to Globalism: American Foreign Policy since 1938. Ninth ed. New York: Penguin 2010.

Branch Taylor. Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63 . New York: Simon and Schuster 1988.

Brands H.W. American Dreams: The United States Since 1945 . New York: Penguin 2010.

Brands H.W. The General vs. the President: MacArthur and Truman at the Brink of Nuclear War . New York: Anchor 2016.

Cadbury Deborah. Space Race: The Epic Battle Between American and the Soviet Union for Dominion of Space. New York: Harper 2007.

Cohen Lizabeth A. A Consumers’ Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America . New York: Vintage 2003.

Coontz Stephanie. The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap . New York: Basic Books 2016.

Dallek Robert. Harry S. Truman . New York: Times Books 2008.

Diggins John Patrick. The Proud Decades: America in War and Peace 1941-1960 . New York: W. W. Norton 1989.

Fried Richard. Nightmare in Red: The McCarthy Era in Perspective . Oxford: Oxford University Press 1991.

Gaddis John Lewis. The Cold War: A New History . New York: Penguin 2005.

Halberstam David. The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War. New York: Hyperion 2007.

Hitchcock William I. The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s. New York: Simon and Schuster 2018.

Johnson Paul. Eisenhower: A Life. New York: Penguin 2015.

Lewis Tom. Divided Highways: Building the Interstate Highways Transforming American Life. Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press 2013.

May Elaine Tyler. Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era . New York: Basic 2008.

McCullough David. Truman. New York: Simon and Schuster 1993.

Patterson James T. Grand Expectations: The United States 1945-1974. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1996.

Whitfield Stephen J. The Culture of the Cold War. Baltimore MD: Johns Hopkins University Press 1996.

Related Content

argumentative essay on youth unemployment

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

In our resource history is presented through a series of narratives, primary sources, and point-counterpoint debates that invites students to participate in the ongoing conversation about the American experiment.

Unemployment Problem In The Philippines

The following sample essay on Unemployment Problem In The Philippines discusses it in detail, offering basic facts and pros and cons associated with it. To read the essay’s introduction, body and conclusion, scroll down.

Causes of Unemployment in the Philippines

Even with a booming economy, there are still some countries experiencing the imminent problem of unemployment. This paper analyzes the major factors affecting the high unemployment rate in the Philippines. The country has showed some positive progress on their economy; however, its unemployment rate still ranks highest among its neighboring Southeast Asian countries.

Effects of unemployment in the Philippines

Unemployment affects so many aspects of the economy, so knowing the root causes of unemployment will help the countrys government to act quickly in response to fluctuations in unemployment may be able to blunt the effects of an economic downturn or maximize the positives of an improving economy. Philippines met its government projections of 6%-7% growth range; the countrys gross domestic product (GDP) growth increased to 6.

6% in 2012 compared to 3. 9% in 2011 (Central Intelligence Agency, 2013).

Despite the Philippines’ economy doing well of late in growing its GDP, the country still faces enormous challenges in generating more Jobs and quality employment for its people. Based on the July 2012 Labor Force Survey (LFS), the unemployment rate in the country is 7% (National Statistics Office, 013). The unemployment fgures for the Philippines in 2012 are among the worst in Asia, higher than its South-East Asian neighbors according to the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES) of the country (Nepomuceno-Rodriguez, 2012).

argumentative essay on youth unemployment

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Youth Unemployment Rate In The Philippines 2019

The disparity between the high GDP growth and the unemployment rate attributed the result to the relatively slower economic growth of the country. Most of the unemployed in the Philippines by educational attainment: 21 . 7% were college graduates, 13. 6 percent were college undergraduates, and 32. 8 percent were high school graduates (National Statistics Office, 2013). By understanding what are factors ffecting unemployment, it can give the countrys government an overview on how respond on this specific economic problem.

With the worsening economic problem, several reasons why unemployment is high in the Philippines are identified: rapid population growth, lack of quality education, and environmental factors.

Factors causing the high unemployment rate

Rapid Population Growth . The more probable cause of unemployment in the Philippines is the unavailability of jobs provided. With an estimated population growth rate of 1. 84%, the countrys population will be approximately 105 million in the near future which is ranked as 3th compared to the world (Central Intelligence Agency, 2013).

There are millions of people needed Jobs and only few can provide one. Overpopulation is one of the key factors in the growing unemployment in the Philippines. The growth of population directly encouraged the unemployment by increasing the labor force. As a relative effect, the country showed a high total dependency ratio rate of 61. 4% (Central Intelligence Agency, 2013). As we discussed in class, the Vicious Circles of Poverty Theory in relation to population growth states that the poorest countries also tend to ave the highest dependency ratios that is, the percentage of population that is not of working age.

The rapid increase in the population indirectly affected the consequence, more resources get used up in private consumption such as food, clothing, shelter and son on in public consumption like drinking water, electricity medical and educational facilities. This has reduced the opportunities of diverting a larger proportion of incomes to saving and investment. Thus, population growth has created obstacles in the way of first growth of the economy and underdeveloped the growth of Job opportunities.

Lack of Quality Education . One cause of unemployment in the Philippines may be lack of quality education. With the increasing demands of the fast developing world, it is really hard to find Jobs when an individual is not a graduate of a particular skill or profession. Though the Philippines is a literate country, the country has literacy rate of 95. 4% for the total population which means that ages 15 and over can read and write (Central Intelligence Agency, 2013).

However, this is not enough to be able to reach the qualifications of most in-demand Jobs because even mere sales ladies nowadays are required to have at least 1-2 years in college education. The country faces a competitive world and it’s a must to reach the norms of development. Thus, a high educational attainment, which most Filipinos lack, is one way to uplift the unemployment rate of the country. Environmental Factors Some areas of the Philippines solely rely on agricultural Jobs as their means of employment. 2% of the labor force is in agriculture, according to the CIA World Factbook. But, agriculture in the country is basically seasonal affair and heavily affected by natural hazards like any other Southeast Asian nations. World Bank has identified the Philippines as one of the most hazard-prone countries in the world; the Philippines also sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area prone to typhoons, floods, drought, earthquakes and volcanic activity (The World Bank, 2013). The aftermath of these calamities heavily affect the labor force of the country.

For example, devastations caused by massive flooding due to super-typhoons will affect areas that rely on agricultural lands. CONCLUSION The Philippines is booming, but the current growth trajectory is not significantly Job- generating. The country’s unemployment crisis will remain unresolved without a major structural change in the economy like an industrial transformation and an gricultural modernization; provide quality education for its citizen to have better Job opportunities; and improving governance and fighting corruption to encourage foreign investors.

As of 2012, there is only 15% of the labor force in industrial sector and 32% in the agricultural sector (Central Intelligence Agency, 2013). Because of the Philippines’ geographical location, it should build more infrastructures for the people that would give them a better Job opportunities and less vulnerability to sudden income difficulties and natural disasters; and most importantly, the government hould re-focus on the countrys industrialization program that encourages value- addition on manufacturing or services. Philippines is constantly aiming to improve the quality of education for its people.

As shown to the government’s 2013 expenditure, the Department of Education was the most funded with 230 Billion Pesos for its budget (Department of Budget, 2013). However, Philippines, infamously known for corrupt government officials, the country scored 32 out of 100 in the 2012 corruption perception index as scores range from O (highly corrupt) to 100 (very department may not be allocated properly and having a transparent and accountable overnment demonstrate a stable economy which boosts foreign investors to invest to the country which will create more Job opportunities for the people.

REFRENCES Central Intelligence Agency. (2013). The world factbook: Philippines [Data file]. Retrieved from https://www. cia. gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ rp. html Department of Budget and Management. (2013). National expenditure program [Data file]. Retrieved from http://www. dbm. gov. phnpage_id=3610 National Statistics Office. (2013). Labor force [Data file]. Retrieved from http:// www. census. gov. ph/content/employment-rate-July-2013-estimated-927-percent Nepomuceno-Rodiguez, D. A. (2012).

Philippines tops neighboring countries in unemployment. Business World Online. Retrieved from http:// www. bworldonline. com/content. php? section=Labor=Philippines-tops- neighboring-countries-in-unemployment=52743 The World Bank. (2013). Data: Philippines [Data files]. Retrieved from http://sdwebx. worldbank. org/climateportalb/ home. cfm? page=country_profile=PHL=NaturalHazards Transparency International. (2013). Corruption by country [Data file]. Retrieved from http:// www. transparency. org/country#PHL_DataResearch

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Unemployment Problem In The Philippines

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Argumentative Essay on Unemployment

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Here you have an argumentative essay on unemployment also download Free Pdf.

Unemployment is a significant problem in India and the rest of the world. Thousands of people are unemployed. Apart from that, unemployment issues are even worse in India due to population growth and the demand for jobs. Moreover, if we ignore this issue, it will be the cause of the nation’s demise.

What Is Unemployment?

Unemployment means a situation where skilled and competent people want to do work. But you cannot get an excellent job for several reasons.

Types of Unemployment

We know what unemployment is, but unemployment does not just mean that a person is unemployed. Likewise, unemployment includes people working in areas without their expertise.

Different types of unemployment include hidden unemployment, seasonal unemployment, lack of open jobs, unemployment in technology, structural malfunction. In addition, other unemployment rates are cyclical unemployment, educated unemployment, unemployment, disputed unemployment, chronic unemployment, and short-term unemployment.

Above all, seasonal unemployment, unemployment, and hidden unemployment are India’s most common unemployment problems.

Reasons for Unemployment

In a country like India, there is a good reason why the vast majority of the population is unemployed. Some of these factors are population growth, slower economic growth, seasonal work, slower economic growth, and the collapse of the small industry.

In addition, these are a significant cause of unemployment in India. Also, the situation has become so tricky that highly educated people are ready to do sweeping work.

Despite all this, most people are involved in the agricultural sector, and this sector provides employment only during harvest or planting season.

In addition, the biggest reason for unemployment in India is the large number of people who need a large number of jobs every year that the government and authorities can provide.

Consequences of Unemployment

If things continue as they are now, unemployment will be a big problem. Apart from this, the following things happen in the economy: growing poverty, increasing crime, exploitation of workers, political instability, mental health, and loss of skills. As a result, all of this will eventually lead to the nation’s demise.

Government action

The government has taken this issue seriously and has gradually reduced unemployment. Some of these programs include IRDP (Integrated Rural Development Program), DPAP (Drought Area Program), Jawahar Rozgar Yojana, Employment Assurance Scheme, NRY (Nehru Rozgar Yojana), Self-Employment Training, PMIUPEP (Integrated Urban Poverty of the Prime Minister’s Program), job exchanges, Employment Guarantee Program, formal industry development, small and medium enterprises, employment in developed countries, and Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana and a few others.

In addition, these government programs also provide flexibility to create jobs in the private sector.

CONCLUSION 

In conclusion, we can say that the problem of unemployment in India has reached a critical stage. However, now the government and local authorities have taken this issue seriously and are working to reduce unemployment. Also, to fully resolve the issue of unemployment, we must address the massive problem of unemployment which is a large number of the Indian population.

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