Detail the severity of unemployment in the United States, the Research Paper

Detail the severity of unemployment in the United States, the Administration's response, and one major economic objection to the - Research Paper Example The unemployment statistics have never been as poor as they are today, at least not in decades. In fact, there is a possibility that is far worse than we have been led to believe. The United States unemployment issues is a huge topic be tossed back and forth, by both candidates, in the presidential election. In order to understand the overall unemployment issue it is necessary to grasp what does â€Å"unemployment† actually mean to the government? What do the statistics truly reveal about the current unemployment crisis and what has the current administration done to improve or prevent it? Generally speaking one would define â€Å"unemployment† as anyone who is not employed. It seems rather self explanatory, and yet the government has a different way of perceiving the concept, as well as, a number of categorizations that make up the statistics. In the eyes of the government an unemployed person is someone who is able to work and has been seeking work within the given mo nth. All of these individuals, 16 years of age and older, will fall into this category and therefore become part the current statistical assessment. It is upon these people that we receive the current, official unemployment rate. That rate, as of August 2012, is stated to be 8.1 percent.("Labor force statistics," 2012) The problem with this percentage is the restrictions on whom they are judging their assessments. They do not include the long-time unemployed who, due the nature of the job market, have given up the search for the, nearly, impossible. They do not include, previously, stay at home mothers or fathers that have, due to the economic crisis, found it necessary to find work but are unable to do so. For this reason, there are many Americans whose unemployment is not being immediately reflected in the above percentage. The government, also, has specific groupings to justify the different categories within unemployment. Natural unemployment reflects literally, the natural acce ptance and level of unemployment which is typical. Frictional unemployment allows for those employees that become unemployed intentionally, transitionally, but have yet to find new employment. Structural unemployment is when the skills of job seekers are not the skills employers are needing. Cyclical unemployment, is not considered a direct part of natural unemployment, it occurs with the success and failures within the business industry. Seasonal employees and â€Å"classically† unemployed are, also, included is separate categories. The Bureau of Labor Statistics assures that all people, in all forms of unemployment are ultimately assessed, but are statistically not included in the official unemployment rate. The unfortunate problem with this system is that it is not providing the overall data all together; if it did then the United States at this moment is closer to 25 percent, â€Å"†¦the same as during the Great Depression.†( Amadeo, 2012) According to the Bur eau of Labor Statistics unemployment was at the lowest it had been in many year in 2007, and the a sudden rise, followed by a continual rise over the last four years, until a sudden, subtle drop in the present year; as seen in the chart below-right.(â€Å"Labor force statistics,† 2012) In comparison to other countries it has been It is shocking. In 2002 the United States has the lowest unemployment rate worldwide. By 2010 we were the highest, as seen in the chart above-right, higher than the United Kingdom, Japan and Italy.(Ydstie, 2012) There