Unemployment In The Uk

Introduction

Unemployment refer to the numbers of the worker in the country, where the individuals are willing to work and they are unable to get proper job, which means that there is low economic output (Bell and Blanchflower, 2018). High rate of unemployment is the signal of economic distress. The aim of the study is to analyse the unemployment rate in the UK as well as measure the trend of unemployment rate in the country. Moreover, the study is effective to search literatures for collecting economy information and data which further help to improve understanding about the cause of unemployment as well as the policies of tackling the issue of unemployment.

As opined by Alber (2017), the literature searches are effective to improve understanding about unemployment. The rate of unemployment is the measurement of the people, who are trying to find the job according to their capabilities, but they fail o be employed due to lack of opportunities and demand for the workforce. There are several causes of unemployment which are high population absence of employment opportunities in the job market, seasonal employment, joint family system, increasing turnout of the students from the universities, slow developing of industries and insufficient rate of economies progress. According to Wadsworth et al., (2016), there is stagnant growth in the economies for which the unemployment rate can be increased, where the government or the policy makers or the leaders of different multinational corporate firms fail to reduce the rate of unemployment in the economy. According to Alfano, Dustmann and Frattini (2016), due to stagnant growth and lack of social development, the unemployment rate can e increased in the economy and part from that slow down of the economies with lack of industrialisation is another issue that increases the issue of unemployment in the economy. As opined by Stuckler et al., (2017), there is also seasonal unemployment, for which the rate of unemployment is increasing over the years. Moreover, lack of technical skill and capabilities is another issue for such unemployment rate in the economy, where the people are suffering from getting the right job according to their knowledge and educational background. As stated by Driffill (2018), increasing turnout of the students does not refer to employment of them in the companies, but there is also the issue of unemployment, as most of the students are not experienced and efficient with adequate knowledge and capabilities.

In addition to this, as stated by Driffill (2018), due to lack of government initiatives and lack of industrialisation, there is lack of demand of the employees in the economy and this is also another major reason of unemployment for which the people are suffering of getting the right job according to their capabilities. According to Wadsworth et al., (2016), demand deficit is the major cause where the factors such as financial crisis, negative multiplier effect, global recession and high interest rates are the reason of high unemployment rate in the economy. On the other hand, as opined by Driffill (2018), in the supply side, the factors such as technological changes, up-gradation of the technology, poor real wage, and geographical mobility, structural is match of skill and frictional unemployment are causes of high unemployment rate in the economy. In this regard, as stated by Stuckler et al., (2017), it is the strategic tactics of the government and the policy makers to improve economic growth and social development and tackle the unemployment rate of the economy. There are two sides of tackling the issue of unemployment, demand side policies and supply side policies. As opined by Alfano, Dustmann and Frattini (2016), in the demand side policy, cutting interest rate to boost aggregate demand in the economy is one of the effective monetary policies to tackle the issue of unemployment. On the other hand, according to Wadsworth et al., (2016), fiscal policy such as cutting taxation in the economy and higher spending further boost aggregate demand in the economy which further helps to reduce the rate of unemployment.

Additionally, according to Wadsworth et al., (2016), there are other supply side policies through which it is possible to tackle the issue of unemployment. In this regard, the educational and training activities in the economy is beneficial for reducing the occupational immobility as well as geographical subsidies are helpful to boost the worker’s interest to get proper job as per their capabilities. On the other hand, as stated by Alfano, Dustmann and Frattini (2016), the other activities such as removing labour market regulations, employment subsidies to encourage the firms to take long term employment, lower minimum wage and reducing the power of trade unions are effective to mitigate the issue of unemployment in the economy. As opined by Stuckler et al., (2017), in order to make flexible labour markets, it is necessary to have government intervention through monetary and fiscal policies as well as restructure the real wage and salary to improve employment rate of the economy. Hereby, the unemployment rate must be tackled properly with government intervention and enhancing the economic growth and social development so that the country can improve their position in the global economics (Bell and Blanchflower, 2018).

In order to collect the adequate data and information, it is necessary to choose effective data collection method and analysis technique, so that it is possible for the researcher to conduct the study with proper information collaboration and analysis. The secondary data collection method is utilised in this study, where searching secondary sources are important for collecting in depth information and data are related to the research topic. The secondary information is easily accessible and the researcher can improve proper knowledge and understanding about the research topic. In this present study, the research topic is related to the unemployment in the UK in the recent years. The information such as cause of unemployment in the UK and reviewing the online uploads of the unemployment rate in past few years in the UK is important to conduct the study. In this context, the website Statista is effective to identify the adequate data related to the unemployment rate in the UK in last few years as well as the journal and online articles related to the unemployment rate in the UK are beneficial to gain understanding about the research topic and conduct the study efficiently with appropriate data and information. In addition to this, data analysis technique is another method through which it is possible to discuss over the findings and in this regard the qualitative data analysis technique is utilise in this study, where the researcher is able to analyse the collected findings on the basis of the secondary information.

There is the issue of unemployment in the UK due to lack of demand of the labourers as well as other factors including recession and lack of economic growth and industrialisation. However, as per the figure below, the unemployment rate in the UK over the years is decreasing at a significant rate which is beneficial for the economy of the UK. The unemployment rate in the UK remains low in 2019 which is 3.8% and amounted 1.3 million people. In 2018, it was 4.1%, and in 2017, 4.4%. In addition to this, for the years of 2015 and 2016, the unemployment rate in the UK was 5.4% and 4.9%. It can be see that, the rate of unemployment is decreasing over five years in the country, which shows positive economic growth with proper employment of the excess labours in the economy (Statista, 2020).

There is proper employment in the UK economy from 208000 to 32.901 million and it is the biggest increase of the employment in the UK economy. On the other hand, the employment rate was estimated at 76.2% and the number of people working in the UK is 32.901 million. On the other hand, the unemployment rate in 2019 in the UK was 3.8% which amounts approximately 1281000 million people, who are not employed at work. Therefore, it can be stated that, there is positive economic growth with reduction of unemployment rate. There are increasing numbers of people, who are getting jobs at the UK economy for industrialisation and digitalisation (Trading Economics, 2020).

As per the findings after data collection through the secondary data collection method, it can be explored that, there is significant decrease in the unemployment rate in the UK economy over the past few years (McLaren, Boomgaarden and Vliegenthart, 2018). As per the data above, the reduction in unemployment rate is significant which further boost the economic activities and social development in the country. The major causes of the issue of unemployment in the UK are such as recession, structural factors, geographical unemployment, frictional unemployment and youth unemployment. Recession is one of the major reasons of the issue of unemployment in the UK where there is demand deficient unemployment and on the other hand, falling Gross Domestic product (GDP) is another cause of decrease in demand for the workforce. There is structural factors for example, the manufacturing job loss have been there due to expansion of service sector. The employees face difficulties in getting skilled based job due to lack of technical skill and poor knowledge about the technological advancement and service efficiency. Geographical immobility is another cause of unemployment due to lack of migration of the labourers in that particular area. there are also frictional and youth unemployment where the employees are searching for new and better opportunities as well as there are some employees with lack of technical skill and motivation (Loopstra et al., 2016).

The great recession during 2008-2013 is one of the major reasons of low GDP, unemployment and low economic growth and social development. After that phase, the rate of unemployment rate is decreasing at a rapid rate which is due to labour productivity, efficiency of the labourers, working flexibility, introducing new training and development program in the economy for the personal and professional development of the labourers, and industrialisation (Baxandall, 2017). UK is recognised as sustainable economic growth and social development and it further helps the government to tackle the issue of unemployment and overcome the problem of recession successfully. The government tackles the situation efficiently by the monetary d fiscal policy for which the unemployment rate is decreasing over the year in the country, which is beneficial for economic growth and social development. Apart from that, the government of the UK is cooperative and encourage international trade as well as foreign direct investment (Knight, 2018). These activities are effective for successful industrialisation and job creation in the economy. More expansion of multinational corporations in the UK as well as international trade further enhances the activities of transfer of technology and labourers which in turn reduce the unemployment rate in the economy.

The study helps to improve own learning and knowledge, where I try to gather a vast range of secondary sources of information so that I would be able to improve my understanding about unemployment in the country. In this regard, the study is helpful for me to gather the knowledge and data about the unemployment rate in the UK over past few years. I come to know that there is significant decrease in the unemployment rate in the UK due to government support, international trade and the expansion of the multinational corporate firms. During the search, I also come to know that, the UK government is cooperative to boost the activities in the labour market and contribute positively in tackling the issue of unemployment. Additionally, the study is helpful for me to conduct analysis and evaluation of the collected data on the unemployment rate in the UK over the past five years. The data and figure above are useful for me to interpret the data and discuss over the topic of unemployment. I also come to know the causes of unemployment and the way the government and policy makers in the UK tackle the issue of unemployment and contribute positively in the UK economy.

Reference List

• Alber, J., 2017. Government responses to the challenge of unemployment: the development of unemployment insurance in Western Europe. In Development of welfare states in Europe and America (pp. 151-184). Routledge.
• Alfano, M., Dustmann, C. and Frattini, T., 2016. Immigration and the UK: Reflections after Brexit. Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano Development Studies Working Paper, (402).
• Baxandall, P., 2017. Constructing Unemployment: The Politics of Joblessness in East and West. London: Routledge.
• Bell, D.N. and Blanchflower, D.G., 2018. Underemployment and the Lack of Wage Pressure in the UK. National Institute Economic Review, 243(1), pp.R53-R61.
• Driffill, E.J., 2018. Can stabilization policy increase the equilibrium unemployment rate?. In Recent advances in labour economics (pp. 110-124). Routledge.