The Job is Done: A Self-Analysis of My Journey Through Unemployment!

Unemployment is a very interesting and multifaceted topic to discuss.  It has many different sides to the story, including reasons why it happened and what can fix it.  From the beginning of my research, I tried to find the best possible sites to give me the information that I needed to understand this topic. Many sites, I found to be too similar and at times, I got frustrated.  But I tried my best to get the best information so I could give my readers reasons why I think about this topic the way that I do and also give them ample information from both parties so they could come up with theories on their own.  When I first thought of the topic of unemployment, I thought it was going to be something very simple to talk about. I actually thought that maybe I might be taking too much of an easy way out. However, I was completely wrong. Many of the issues dealing with unemployment have been very difficult for me to understand. I do not frequently keep up with the news so I had to do a lot of research just so I could write my first sentence.  Many of the sites that I found seemed to have a slightly biased view towards my topic (Foxnews.com, cnn.com), and because Dr. Frost said that we shouldn’t be a biased blogger, I had to direct my focus elsewhere to get a better sense. So I began looking at Realclearpolitics and Politico. However, I still found that most sites you go to are going to have some biased, you just have to learn how to sift through the bull.

After I had a pretty good sense of what unemployment was and where I could find information about it, I needed to find out what each party thought on the subject. I started analyzing information on the Conservatives and the Liberals to decide what I thought would be the best way to fix unemployment. What I came up with were varying ideas and plans that generated form both parties, including the Bush Tax Cuts, unemployment benefits, spending cuts, and  outsourcing.  From my previous research I was able to understand unemployment, but through aspects such as these, I was able to understand it deeply and get a good feel for what was truly happening to the lives of Americans. I am only a college student who has a summer job every year; I don’t have to worry about paying taxes every year or taking care of a house or family, but other Americans do and they are truly in trouble.

Although I did get frustrated, as I mentioned before, I do feel that I do have a better sense of the way politics works in our world. I may not sit down whenever I have the opportunity to read the news, but I have learned to take it into account for often and read other people’s ideas about our world’s issues.  My dad likes to talk about politics a lot and I was very pleased that this project gave me a change to participate in something that he is very interested in.  And I actually sound like I know what I’m talking about!! As I read my classmate’s blogs I became more interested in their topics and enjoyed reading what their views are and how they may have changed throughout their blogging as well. At the beginning of the project I didn’t think that I was a blogger, and honestly, I still don’t think that I am a blogger but I am glad that I got to experience the feeling and I do agree that it is a good way to improve your writing and thinking skills. And because I am a communications major, I also believe that this has helped me in more than one class and I have become better at expressing my ideas.

Some Links That Helped Me Along The Way!

Bls.gov

Of course I would look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics! They give all the rules and information around this topic, don’t they? This site essentially provides the true unemployment numbers at this time and breaks the numbers down into gender, age, race, region...Etc... It also tells you how you can qualify to receive unemployment benefits. Come to this site if you want to get the statistics for unemployment.

Realclearpolitics.com

When beginning this blog I went straight to my dad, the only person I know who can talk politics to a wall if he wanted.  He directed me to this website and it ended up being a wonderful way to get both unbiased AND biased info to help me brainstorm what I wanted to discuss in my posts. Most of the searches bring up several articles that show both a Conservative viewpoint, as well as a Democratic one. I encourage anyone who visits this site to explore it and look for unemployment articles or any other articles for that matter.

Money.usnews.com

This link that I attached was a good starting point when it came to my understanding on where unemployment actually stood in the midterm elections. It gave me valuable info about the status of our economy and the affects that unemployment and the distribution of money has on it.

Money.usnews.com

Although from the same website, this new link gave me some good insight on why unemployment benefits should be extended. The extension of unemployment benefits is a large part of my topic and caused a lot of debate.  This link tells you why they should be extended, including that fact that people need to support their families in this time of need, and if they receive money (as long as they can prove that they are looking for jobs and unable to get hired) they can spend it immediately and pump it through our economy.

Businessweek.com

This link helped me determine what drove the unemployment rates to such extreme levels. It focuses on how the companies stopped hiring and expanding once the recession hit; causing less jobs, less spending, and less money flow into our economy.

Money.cnn.com

This link gave me some pretty useful information on how many jobs were actually lost in the month before we started our blog project.  It discusses how we are not just losing jobs, but we are not gaining enough in the private sector to make up for those that were lost in the first place.  It also talks about about the differences in job losses from government sectors and private sectors.

Money.cnn.com

Another money.cnn.com article that helped a lot was the one in the link above.  This is where I found out the majority of my information of the Bush Tax Cuts.  It talks about what they are, when they are supposed to expire, what will happen if they are/aren’t extended, what each party thinks should be done, who will receive the tax cuts..Etc... Of course I could not receive all my information on the tax cuts from this one link, it did give me a good understanding of the basis.

3 Blogs That Are Almost As Cool As Mine!

Occupation: Unemployment

I am directing you to this wonderfully thought out blog because it deals with unemployment as well.  This is one of the most important debates in America at the moment. This blog is worth taking a look at because it provides a non bias look into the topic.  Many solutions to unemployment are mostly bias, but in this blog, the bias is removed and the reader is left with the simple facts.  This writer gives a good basis on what he feels would save us from the unemployment crisis and also goes in depth with the solutions that the government has put forth. This blog is perfect for student who will be searching for a job within a few years or anyone who wants a clearly illustrated explanation of unemployment in general.

Digging for Trouble

The oil drilling blog, Digging for Trouble, talks about the offshore drilling debate in the United States. This blog is enlightening and brings a lot of interesting and controversial environmental issues to the forefront.  I have not kept myself up-to-date on the issue with the oil leak and the environmental issues that have been caused by the spill so I really enjoyed reading it.  It taught me a lot about the issue and enlightened me on the subject. I realized just how dangerous, necessary, and dependent our country is on offshore drilling.

The Border: Where Immigration and Race Meet

I found this blog interesting because I have always been interested in the topic of immigration.  My mother’s side of the family is half German and half Mexican (crazy mixture, I know) and I constantly heard people discussing the illegal immigration of Mexicans into the U.S.  I have always been proud to say that my grandma is, in fact, one of the legal ones!! This blog was good at providing information about illegal immigrants into our country. I agree with his view that America should work on trying to keep more illegal immigrants out than trying to get rid of the ones that are already in. I've always been really passionate about this issue; sometimes feeling sorry for immigrants and other times feeling disgust (like when they whistle at you. I must say it’s lovely being a woman). I think the writer of this blog did a great job not bringing in much emotion and giving facts and unbiased information.

Discrimination & Employment!

It has always been said that your gender and race has some affect on whether you have a better chance of being employed or not and what you will be paid if you are employed.  In this post, I want to take a closer look at the actual facts and statistics of this saying.

Gender: In the 1970’s women started off being paid $.52 to every $1 a male worker made, then it got raised to $.72 for every dollar when the EEOA (Equal Employment Opportunity Act) was enacted; since 2000, a woman’s salary has drifted back to $.58 per every male’s dollar. But is this soon to change? Young woman are starting to be paid more than young men. As a seasonal lifeguard we obviously start at a certain wage and get a raise of about $.25 every summer.  When I started 4 years ago I made $7/hr. flat. My co-worker, a male, took the same lifeguard class at me, interviewed in the same week, worked at the same pool, and started on the same day; however he made $6.50/hr. Why is this happening? Is it due to the issue of supremacy amongst the genders? Unfortunately I do not have the answer to such questions, but I do find it strange and will continue to keep up with the issue.

Race: Along with women, non-white males are also discriminated against when it comes to salary.  In order to show you some statistics, I will have to use teenage examples. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, African-American teens experienced an unemployment rate of 33.3% in 2005 as compared with 14.2% for white teenagers and 12.4% for Asians. Also, in 2005 African-American men, with a 10.5% unemployment rate, were considerably more likely to be out of work than Hispanic men (5.4%), white men (4.4%), or Asian men (4%).

Taking into account race and gender when it comes to finding jobs and the wage you will receive, the wage gap still exists because many women and people of other races continue to be segregated into low-paying occupations (of which there are many). More than half of all women workers hold sales, clerical and service jobs. Studies show that the more an occupation is dominated by women or people of other races, the less it pays.

It is sad to see how far our country has come in so many other levels; however we still have the audacity to discriminate against different genders and races to decide who gets the job and who gets to bring home the bacon!

I Have an Idea, Let's Outsource Unemployment!!

I came across a YouTube video that discusses the issue with outsourcing American jobs and corporations to overseas countries.  Companies are beginning to start up in countries such as China, India, The Philippines, and Panama where workers are used to being paid by pennies each day rather than America’s minimum wage standards.  As I look at almost everything I own in my dorm room, I notice that they are all products of labor in China.  Although I can say I am please with the work they’ve done, I must admit that I am a little distraught that they can take a way so many of our jobs.  I am in school as most people either are, have done, or will do, to get a high degree of education. I do not want to get out of college only to realize that the major I chose to peruse will get me nowhere in America. However, there are some people that don’t blame outsourcing for our bad economy and actually promote it. Alsbridge Incorporated, an outsourcing consultant that advises companies on how to move jobs overseas to save a lot of money. CEO, Ben Trowbridge, argues that without outsourcing companies wouldn’t be able to invest in other things that grow their products and support them. He believes that outsourcing actually helps the economy and allows companies to stay competitive. Others, like President Obama, are very against outsourcing and its affect. He plans to end tax breaks for those companies that continue to send jobs overseas and states that, “One of the keys to job creation is to encourage companies to invest more in the United States.” Also, in order to increase local hiring, Obama also gave a speech in January suggesting a $5,000 credit for every job a company creates and an overall limit of $500,000 credit per company for taking advantage of such benefits. Personally, I agree with Obama’s plan to rid the action of outsourcing.  We should set a goal to bring jobs back to America so we can boost our economy before we try to help struggling foreign nations boost theirs. Limiting outsourcing would be a big step to fixing unemployment in America!

Unemployment Implications!

Through an analysis of the issue of unemployment I have found that it is obvious that a failure to diminish unemployment will result in a swell of economical issues. Two of the big issues at this very moment, upon which unemployment is resting, are whether Congress will let the Bush Tax Cuts expire and whether they will extend unemployment benefits to the jobless. I will continue my post by explaining the implications which will arise if these issues are not discussed and resolved properly.

So what will happen if Congress allows the tax cuts to expire? If the cuts expire then the government gets more money in the short run. However, it is money taken out of the economy, so the economy can’t grow. So when the government spends the money, it’s all used up with no taxes coming in from a growing economy.  It’s the equivalent to giving me $2 now but if it was left in the economy to grow and crest jobs, the government would get $3 from being able to tax a bigger pool of money, even if that tax rate is lower. So overall the government actually gets more money when tax rates are lower. One of the main issues right now is whether we should tax the wealthier Americans as well.  I believe that everyone should be included in the tax cuts.  Middle and lower class families would spend their extra money that they receive from the cuts and the wealthy families would probably do the same.  The argument is that many wealthy Americans would not spend their extra money, but save it, ultimately doing nothing to spur the economy.  However, I believe that if we gave the wealthy Americans tax cuts, they would have more money to start or expand businesses and hire more people; that is what most wealthy Americans get their wealth from anyways, right?  Only selecting a certain group of citizens to receive these cuts would both create less jobs and cause less money to be pumped through our economy.

What will happen if congress does not extend unemployment benefits? Well, besides the fact that around 3.2 Americans would suffer from the lost benefits, it will also put a restraint on our economic growth. The point of unemployment benefits is to put money in the hands of people that cannot receive money from the private sector. Once money is handed over, the recipient spends it immediately to help support themselves or their family. Without these benefits, people can’t get paid, can’t spend, and the economy can’t prosper.

Some may say, “How can the extension of the Bush Tax Cuts and the extension of unemployment benefits go hand-in-hand?” Wouldn’t lower taxes only create less money for the government to provide for the benefits? Well that’s where I think spending cuts come in. The less money we spend on useless projects (refer to my “Theory on Unemployment” post), the more money the government will have to help those in need. Although there are several plans that the government has discussed to reduce unemployment, I believe that the extension of the Bush Tax Cuts and unemployment benefits are the two main goals that we need to focus on.

You Need a Breather From Unemployment? I Know I Do!!