The Impact of Unemployment on the American Family System - Research Paper Example

The Impact of Unemployment on the American Family System The research paper will provide an insight into impact of unemployment on the American families. Unemployment is one of the most important global economic issues which has distressed personal and family lives. It adversely influences the life of a person. People tend to neglect the social issues linked to unemployment. There is not much research done in this field in the past and therefore it is the main reason to conduct a research on this economic issue.  Introduction  In economic terms, Unemployment is the state of joblessness within an economy and it is measured in terms of the unemployment rate. i.e the number of unemployed worker divided by the total number of people in the labor force. People in the age group 16-64 constitute the labor force. The Business Week reported in 2011 that around the world more than 200 people are out of a job. There are three main types of unemployment. Structural unemployment is as result of lack of demand for the workers for a particular industry. Frictional Unemployment is caused by people moving from betweens occupations and locations. Cyclical unemployment is also known as demand deficient unemployment and occurs when there is not sufficient aggregate demand to offer jobs to all the workers. E.g. not finding work due to recession. According to a Gallup poll conducted over a telephonic survey towards the end of the year 2011, Unemployment topped the list of problems faced by Americans for the second consecutive month. 35% of Americans recognized unemployment as the major dilemma that they face. They said that the economy was the second problem. It was followed by healthcare and then government. Moreover the unemployment rate has improved in the last couple of months but is at 9% with about 14 million Americans searching for work. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) highlighted that more 8 million people who are capable of having a full-time job are currently working part-time. A million people are categorized as ‘discouraged workers’ meaning that they are willing to work but feel that there is no job available for them. Furthermore Americans faced the longest during of unemployment rising up to 36.9 weeks which is the highest since 1948. (Linn) This serious crisis has psychological costs along with the social costs. It causes critical health problems, depressions and anxieties, people lose their self esteem and become hopeless. The spending power falls and effects sense of accomplishment and social status. Moreover along with the person the family and those close to him also suffer. It disturbs the family life and creates problems at home when there is not enough earning. Situation and setting I will be focusing on the unemployed people in America. This will include short term unemployment and long term unemployment both. Moreover unemployment in all sorts of social stratification will be looked into; from grass root level till the managerial level. Research Methodology I will do an in-depth research of all the psychological, heath and social issues related to unemployment. For this I will make use of the secondary sources that are available in the form of books, eBooks, published journals, magazines, interviews etc. I believe that a study of existing researches will be very helpful in conducting a thorough research on the topic. As these researches are analyzed by professors and other experts it will provide a very clear picture on the concerned issue. I will compile all the necessary information and categorize it into the different types of social, health and psychological issues that unemployment causes. Later on it will provide a very understandable picture of all the concerns associated with unemployment which is the main part of this research. Research Question What are the social, psychological and health issues with increasing unemployment in America and how does it affect American individuals and family life? Literature Review There is a range of symptoms of agony that are associated with unemployment. Several studies have revealed that unemployment causes depression, lethargy and lack of interest in life, hopelessness, negative mood and feelings, low self esteem, alcoholism, psychosomatic symptoms, suicide, disturbed family and social life. Yet, it doesn’t affect all the aspects of mental health in the same manner. Its effect on the mental state has typical symptoms. For example Depression is seen as the foremost form of distress and is associated with lower self esteem and learned helplessness. In this way the effects are correlated. A person repeatedly attempts and struggles to find a paid job but is encountered with failure due to the economic deprivation. Hence it creates a sense of learned helplessness and causes a lower self esteem and ignites hopeless and negative feelings. People also agree that the physical and mental health and wellbeing of an unemployed person is generally poorer as compared to an employed person. Dr David Fryer, a visiting psychologist studied the impacts of unemployment in human psychology for 14 years and in an address he claimed that his research concluded ‘worrying consistent findings’. His findings revealed that 40% of unemployed people experienced psychological suffering. (Unemployment a mental health issue) Short term unemployment can cause despair but it is likely to end when the person finds work and the stress alleviates. However the distress which results from long term unemployment lingers on for a very long time hence the symptoms prevail as long as the person doesn’t find the job. More stress occurs when the person looks for a job and faces a continuous failure. Moreover in many studies it is told that apart from physical and mental problems, unemployment increases the mortality rate. People who are employed have a high self regard and they participate more to the society. In his study M. Harvey Brenner said that “When that is taken away, people become susceptible to depression, cardiovascular disease, AIDS and many other illnesses that increase mortality”. (Weaver) Terrible psychological and emotional effects have been resulted from the serious pain that has resulted from unemployment in America. The Centers for disease control (CDC) revealed results of a study which showed that the suicide rate was in accordance with the business cycles. Their results comprised research between the years 1928-2007. Their report said “The overall suicide rate rises and falls in connection with the economy. The study, “Impact of Business Cycles on the U.S. Suicide Rates, 1928–2007″ is the first to examine the relationships between age-specific suicide rates and business cycles. The study found the strongest association between business cycles and suicide among people in prime working ages, 25-64 years old. Knowing suicides increased during economic recessions and fell during expansions underscores the need for additional suicide prevention measures when the economy weakens,” said James Mercy, Ph.D., acting director of CDC’s Injury Center’s Division of Violence Prevention. “It is an important finding for policy makers and those working to prevent suicide.” (Kaye) The families of unemployed people also face the distress that the unemployed person goes through and it unfavorably hampers the family life. When the working husband loses his job his relationship with his wife and children also get affected as the environment at home is tensed. It can also lead to physical and verbal violence at home and not only the unemployed person but also his family members can engage into drugs and alcohol. If the conditions at home prevail for the very long time, these impacts can continue on forever and completely disturb relations within the family. The children can move out of home and engage in unhealthy activities, the relations between the spouses can be on the verge of divorce and the aggression gets never ending. Another very major problem for families in America is that employed people have unemployed children. They are in college or college graduates who depend on welfare and help from their parents are they are waiting to get a response from the work place where they have applied for jobs. Their parents already may have taken loans from the government during the children’s college years so they have a burden to return that loan back and with it they have to pay for their adult children’s additional expenses. People have sadly reported that they get so stigmatized and are looked down upon by their relatives who may not want to meet them. Unemployment can also disturb friendships between best friends, siblings, school and college mates, work partners in a very short period of time. Initially you are likely to help your friends because you feel bad for the despair he is going through. At first you tend to support them in whatever way you can. But later on as time passes and the unemployed time extends you get frustrated of it and feel that your friend is not putting in an extra effort to look for work and is enjoying on benefits. Moreover your friend’s presence around you signals you that you can be a victim of unemployment as well. Hence this doesn’t last long and the friendship ruins when you cannot stand it more and your friend’s presence bothers you. (Vaughn) After an intense recession in America, in 1983 the percentage of unemployed women was 7% who had been unemployed for six months or more. The males constituted the larger percentage. However after the recession, in 20010 the percentage of unemployed women raised to 14%. Peter S Goodman mentions in his article about a 57 year old woman Jean Eisen. Eisen remained unemployed for couple of years without receiving any paycheck or unemployment check. She relied on the local food banks for her groceries and she could not afford to buy her medicines that were prescribed by the doctor for blood pressure and cholesterol. She was more inclined to her religion which she claimed was the only source of refuge from the difficult life she was facing at this age. She said “I pray for healing, When you’ve got nothing, you’ve got to go with what you know…We’re looking at the very real possibility of being homeless”. She ran out of her unemployment benefits and paid her bills with the disability checks she and her husband received. Eisen was among the 6.3 million unemployed persons who had been jobless for six months or more than that. It is the largest number recorded since 1948. (GOODMAN) Reports in the start of 2010 said that one in nine American children has an unemployed parent which was as a result of the recession in America. The figures of the children rose up to 8.1 million who did not know about the serious dilemma they were supposed to face in their lives ahead. They were prone to experience homelessness, child abuse, drop out of college or school and live in paucity. Moreover 3.3 million young adults between the age of 16-24 themselves were unemployed. (Families of the Recession: Unemployed Parents & Their Children) For many families in America the issues related to unemployment were more psychological and emotional as compared to economic. Their children suffered a major setback in all aspects ranging to disturbed life at home, at school and with parents. The children of unemployed parents suffered from low self esteem and studies reveal that they performed poorly at school. Michael Lou wrote about traumatic stories of the families whose bread winners were unemployed and what distress it had caused in their lives. Paul Bachmuth, of age 45 was a resident in Woodlands, Tex who had lost his job for a year. His family was sustaining on unemployment benefits while he continued to search for jobs. His children went through stress disorders and had behavioral concerns while he and his wife consulted a therapist to help them maintain their marriage. Robert Syck of age 42, from Fishers, Ind. Lost his job and had to spend more time at his home when he was around his son more often. He was distressed because of the loss of his job and this certainly affected his son’s behavior as well. He said that the child was not performing well at school and his also argued with his parents at home. (LUO) Julia Isaacs from the Brookings Institution also studied the economic conditions of the children during the recession period in America. They were studied in three aspects; children who lived with unemployed parents, individuals who relied on benefits for nutrition and poor children. About 6.5 million children below the age of 18 were living in America with unemployed parents in 2011. High rates of unemployment were in California, Nevada, Florida, and Michigan where the parents of unemployed children were jobless since 6 or more children. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides food to people who cannot afford it. Almost half of the people receiving these benefits are children. Reports revealed that for the past four years about 45 million people rely on food benefits from this institute. With the he increased number of participants, 21 million children were receiving food benefits. The districts of Michigan, Columbia, Mississippi, Oregon, New Mexico are the places where children are receiving a lot of benefits for food. Child poverty has also risen in America from 18 percent in 2007 to 22 percent in 2010. The total figure rose to 16 million in the country in 2010. The states where child poverty is extremely high are District of Columbia, Mississippi and New Mexico. Isaacs foresees that child poverty will continue to increase and a total of 27 states will have a poverty rate of more than 20%. She concluded that the according to her studies in these three aspects, the number of children living with unemployed parents was falling which gave a hopeful picture, however the number of children who relied on benefits for nutrition was rising and child poverty was also soaring. She says that the families have not yet recuperated from the intense recession and need government assistance for more time but the government budgets are very tight. (Isaacs) Reports from the American Journal of Public Health inform that till date Unemployment is associated with increased mortality rate and suicide rate from unidentified causes. Unemployed people suffer from solemn long lasting illnesses and a large percentage makes use of pills and tranquilizers to lower their stress levels. Suicide Prevention Resource Center showed a strong relationship between unemployment, economy and suicide. They say that a “chain of adversity” begins when the person looses a job and is followed by depression and lower self confidence due to the financial constraints that the person faces. It is a vital necessity that the unemployed people divert their attention to relaxing and stress relieving activities and exercises. They need to handle their life and control the areas where they still have command and through which they can make their lifestyle comfortable and reduce the mental stress. They can create stronger bonds with family and friends and also in severe conditions need to consult therapists or community health workers so that any kind of future mishap can be prevented. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is also available for people who feel in the depths of despair and they can ask for assistance from them. Results Studies incorporated in the Literature Review provide and in depth insight into the psychological, social and health troubles that are linked up with unemployment in America and how they affect the lives of individuals of all age groups, men women and children and the American family lifestyle. References "Families of the Recession: Unemployed Parents & Their Children." 14 January 2010. . GOODMAN, PETER S. "The new poor Despite Signs of Recovery, Chronic Joblessness Rises." 20 february 2010. New York Times. . Isaacs, Julia B. "The Recession’s Ongoing Impact on America’s Children: Indicators of Childrens Economic Well-Being Through 2011." 20 december 2011. Brookings. . Kaye, Jeff. "Unemployment is Killing People." 17 August 2011. . Linn, Allison. "Americas biggest problem? Unemployment." 2 November 2011. . LUO, MICHAEL. "Job Woes Exacting a Toll on Family Life." New York Times. . "Unemployment a mental health issue." 1995. The Jobs Letter. . Vaughn, James. "How High Unemployment Hurts the Employed." Ezin Articles. . Weaver, Rheyanne. "Mental, Physical Health Effects of Long-Term Unemployment." 24 february 2010. Empower Improving health.Changing lives. . Read More