A survey paper is a document that gives a summary and arranges recent outcomes of research in a new manner that integrates and adds thoughtfulness to work in a field of study. The article takes a general perspective of the area of study; stressing the categorization of previous literary work, coming up with a viewpoint on the area of study, and determining patterns. Therefore the primary purpose of a survey paper is to provide the reader with a perspective of existing work in a concise manner.
According to the international labor organization, unemployment is the lack of jobs and the concerned individuals have been seeking employment for the previous four weeks. The rate of unemployment is derived as a percentage by dividing the number of the jobless by the total individuals currently employed. Unemployment continues to be a major challenge to many countries as the impacts of the current recession bite. In the United States of America, many individuals lost their jobs following the economic meltdown of 2008 forcing the government to intervene in order to save millions from joblessness (Sandhiratne 1972).
In the United States, unemployment is determined by a host of factors like the level of education, market trends, and the state of the economy. Unemployment also varies in the population based on race, gender, age, and location.
Unemployment in United States of America
Despite the US being the largest economy in the world, unemployment has become a serious challenge to its policy makers. The recent events of the last four years have resulted in the collapse of many businesses leading to a considerable number of Americans losing their jobs. A good example is Lehman brothers. The government has been forced in many occasions to intervene by offering rescue packages to these troubled companies so as to safeguard the jobs of Americans. Companies like General Motors and Daimler Chrysler relied on government support to avert collapse.
Unemployment in America has become a problem in the recent past despite the country having one of the most educated and skilled labor force in the world. The rate of unemployment has steadily climbed in the past few years to stand at 8.2% despite the government efforts to reverse this trend.
This survey paper is going to critically analyze the unemployment situation in the United States of America, playing close attention to the rate of unemployment among some demographic groups, analyze previous and current data on the rate of unemployment and the factors that influence the rate of unemployment.
The following survey questions were used to collect primary data concerning unemployment in America.
1. Are you employed or not?
2. Are you seeking employment or not?
3. What is your age?
4. What is your level of education?
5. Are you an American native or an immigrant?
6. Which state do you reside in?
7. For how long have you been unemployed?
8. Do you have any skill or work experience?
9. Have you been racially discriminated while seeking employment?
10. Have you received any form of unemployment benefits from the government?
11. Have you been discriminated based on gender while seeking employment?
12. Are you seeking part time or full time employment?
13. Is the America government doing enough in fighting unemployment?
Data analysis
By the month of October 2011, the unemployment rate in the United States stood at 8.6 percent. The unemployment rate has averaged at 5.7 percent from 1948 to 2010 with an all time high of 10.8 percent in November 1982 and an all time low of 2.5 percent in March 1953. The labor force is composed of those who have work and those who don’t but are seeking employment while the non labor force is comprised of those not interested in employment, prisoners and military personnel.
In the month of November, the rate of unemployment dropped by 0.4% to stand at 8.6 percent. Employment in sectors not related to farming climbed by 120,000 (Carson 2011).The sectors that showed improvement are: retail, entertainment, hospitality, health care, professional, and entrepreneual services. Employment by the government showed a downward trend.
Through the months of April to October the rate of unemployment played between the ranges of 9.0 to 9.2 percent. The number of unemployed individuals stood at 13.3 million in the month of October dropped by 594,000 in the month of November. The total labor force (sum of the employed and unemployed) dropped by slightly more than half of the same amount.
Joblessness among adult males dropped by a margin of 0.5 percentage points to stand at 8.3 percent. There was also an overall decrease in unemployment rate among the Caucasians to7.6 percent. The rates for adult females (7.8%), teenagers (23.7%), blacks (15.5%), and Hispanics (11.4%) displayed minimal or no change at all. The Asians had a rate of 6.5%, but theirs is not periodically attuned. The above data showed the minority groups (blacks and Hispanics) had high unemployment rates compared to the whites. This disparity could be the result of differing levels of education and racial prejudice. Adult women had a lower rate than their male counterparts chiefly because of the benefits of affirmative action (Kimmel 2007).
In the same month, the number of those who lost their jobs and those who finished their temporary employment reduced by 432,000 to 7.6 million. Those who have been unemployed for a considerably longer period (more than 27 weeks) remained steady at 5.7 million and contributed 43% of those who are jobless. The ratio of employment to population also showed very small changes. The number of part- time employees declined by 378,000 to 8.5 million. Many people work part time because they lack full-time employment or their hours have been slashed therefore they seek alternative source of income.
In the same month, 2.6 million people were slightly close to the labor force, which correspond to the previous year. These are people who are not part of the labor force, are interested in employment and have been seeking employment in the months preceding the 12 months. They were excluded from the study as they had not been actively seeking jobs four weeks prior to the study.
Disheartened workers represented the slightly attached, representing a decrease of 186,000 from the previous year. The disheartened workers are those who at the moment are not seeking employment due to their belief that currently there is no job suitable for them. The remainder of those slightly attached to the labor force had not looked for employment in the four weeks before the study due to commitments like schooling and family demands.
Ethical implications in formulating survey questions
The utilization of survey research has changed over time to factor in the moral responsibilities of the researcher when handling human subjects. Some of the ethical implications include the right of the subjects to remove themselves from the survey. This agreement is usually reached during the informed consent process. The subjects also have the right to ignore some questions (Kimmel 2007).
Anonymity is another critical implication which should bed taken very seriously. Some subjects may withhold some information if they feel that their privacy is being infringed. If the subjects withhold some truth, the survey itself will be incomplete hence researchers must reassure their subjects that personal information will be kept confidential. In coming up with the survey question, surveyors must formulate questions that will generate the desired information.
Conclusion
The government of the United States must come up with policies that can spur economic growth so that the rate of unemployment is substantially reduced. Employment in any country is the main source of income, therefore when unemployment rises the standard of living goes down leading to some societal ills like crime to rise up. Despite the recession which is reducing the economic growth the economy, the government should intervene in some sectors to prevent some business giants that employ majority of Americans from collapsing. This will safeguard the ordinary citizens from losing their jobs.
Due to the disparities in employment among some minority groups like the Hispanics and the blacks, the US government should come up with affirmative action to ensure that such groups are at par with other citizens when it comes to securing employment opportunities. Illegal immigration should be stopped so as to eliminate unnecessary completion in the job market. Many Americans have lost their rightful employment opportunities to illegal immigrants who are favored by employers because they demand less pay and are willing to work in unsafe conditions.