Welfare and unemployment Essay Example for Free

Welfare and unemployment Essay Welfare is a term used to describe a wide spectrum of parameters for human well being. These parameters include security, education, economy, housing, health and natural environment. In essence, welfare encompasses wellness of all aspects of life. Basically, welfare can be defined as wellness or well doing or wellbeing in regard to enjoyment of health and common blessings of life, free from any evil or disasters; development and happiness. Welfare can be viewed in the perspective of both an individual and community as a whole. On the other hand, unemployment refers to a situation where an individual is available to work and currently searching for work but there is no where he/she can work. The level of unemployment is measured by unemployment rate which is usually described as the percentage of the people in the labor force who have gotten employed. It is a matter of course that unemployment impacts negatively to the welfare of the people in a country. These impacts occur at individual, family and community levels. Some of the impacts of unemployment that are commonly known include: poor housing, lack of income, poor health, lack of food, insecurity, lack of education , accumulation of debts, Xenophobia, protectionism and immigration hence it is agreeable among people of different quotas that unemployment and welfare are closely related (Anderson, 2000, 67) . To begin with, one of the most important measures of welfare is health. According to WHO, health is defined as a state of complete wellness physiologically, economically, socially and emotionally and not merely the absence of a disease or disability. In this regard, economy and social factors are key determinants of human health. The welfare of the economy and social status is dependent on the availability of work that provides employment to the people. In the contemporary world, employment means work which is consistent and money can be paid for it. The need for earning money has made a paying job as a top agenda in the priorities and lives of many people. Due to this reason, job has got a significant impact on the mental, physical and social health status of the society. There is a lot of documented research and empirical evidence on the effects of lack of jobs on the health of the people. Employment to may people gives them a sense of consistency, purpose and identity, belongingness, social identity and a chance for individual’s growth and development. In some cases, some say that it provides to them self-realization and creativity. When one is unemployed, he/she is considered to have lost these vital benefits and therefore it results to adverse effects to his/her health (Earney, 1997, 102). According to numerous studies that have conducted world wide, there seems to be a pattern of increasing mortality rate during the times of negative economic growth, such as time of increasing unemployment. For example, in Scotland (1983), there was a time lag of 0 to 13 years in its population, meaning that the death rate was increased by the continuously high and rising unemployment during that time. This association of health and unemployment can be depicted well in the studies of cardiovascular diseases. From analysis of various studies, it has been proved that there is a positive relationship of unemployment and coronary heart diseases deaths. This is basically because of the stress that is related with unemployment. From these studies, it has been specifically noted that, aged employees who were retrenched and the young people who are jobless are more prone to stroke and high blood pressure disorders than the other segments of the populations. The other measure of the association between unemployment and health is number of suicides. In the studies that have been conducted so far, it has been proved that in most cases, those who attempted suicide had been unemployed or jobless. This was more so among the adolescents males. Research has also shown that high risks of injury and accidents are related to unemployment (Nelson, 1999, 33). Unemployment has also been identified as one of the cause of the many mental problems being experienced of late. It is confirmed by research that immediate job loss, long time joblessness and many mental and physical health disorders are closely related. The mental health negative effects of joblessness include consistent depression, insomnia, self-harming feelings , anxiety, dullness, pessimism , decline in self esteem and reduced ability to make decision. In one of the studies in USA, it was found that the physicians recorded the highest number of psychiatric patients during the times of economic recession which is characterized by a lot of joblessness. Also, worthy noting was the unique finding that most health facilities received the highest number of clients in the times of economic difficulties contrary to the normal assumption of the people that patients increase at the time of economic boom when there is a lot of money in circulation for seeking healthcare. Unemployment does not spare the welfare of children either. It has been noted that children are adversely affected when the parents are jobless. In such cases, the families lack finances to cater for their basic needs like seeking for health care, education, shelter and food. This results to increased infant mortality, morbidity rates and hospital admissions. In one of the studies in Britain, it was found out that unemployment doubled the risk of sickness for young children who were admitted at the health facilities. Unemployment makes the young to suffer from material deprivation, depression and other psychological problems, somatic symptoms and sicknesses, juvenile delinquency, poor performance in school and lack of attachment to the parents. It has also been observed that child abuse and neglect becomes rampant when jobless occurs (Gulluly, 1998, 23). For women, the problem of unemployment hits the hardest. It predisposes them to the practice of prostitution so as to earn income for catering for their needs and their families. Such practice has resulted to quick spread of sexually transmitted infections like HIV and others. Moreover, joblessness among women leads to increased levels of the cases of maternal mortality . This is due to lack finances for seeking maternal health services, which in most developing countries are paid for. To worsen the situation, the married women have been on the receiving end in the times of unemployment since many men divorce them or run away leaving them with a heavy burden of feeding the families. Such cases have been reported in developing countries where the men leave their wives and migrate to other areas in the name of hunting for job. The ripple effect of this kind of migration is extended to food production in that it leads to the lack of manpower in rural areas and therefore agriculture is adversely affected. When it comes to the relationship between unemployment and housing, it is evident that the low level of income which is associated with unemployment results to mushrooming of informal settlements like slums in towns and squatters in rural areas. The unemployed lack money to rent descent houses or buy land of their own thus results to deviation of the law and settling in lands owned by other people. This leads to cycle of crimes and battles between the security officers and the jobless people. In addition to this, standards of living are affected with the informal settlement dwellers lacking basic necessities like drainage systems, water and other sanitation facilities hence frequent outbreaks of diseases (Snower, 2000, 16). In other cases, chronic lack of jobs leads to xenophobic attacks that polarizes the diplomatic relation of a country with others. This occurs due to thinking that unemployment results when the available jobs are being taken by a foreigner who is regarded as non citizens. During this kind of attacks, robbery, rape, destruction of property and demonstrations become the order of the day. To evade such adverse influences of unemployment, many countries have come up with economic strategic plans that attempt to ensure there are adequate employment opportunities to absorb jobless people and graduates from both universities and other tertiary level colleges. USA has been on the fore front in endeavor. The president-elect barrack Obama has come up with policies for the country to address the low level of unemployment that had occurred during the previous government (Adam, 2003, 86). These include provision of immediate tax cut for workers and their families. This aims to make half of the tax credit be available to the workers and the jobless thus maintaining the consumer expenditure, strengthening the economy as well as rescuing many Americans who are faced with economic challenges. Another strategy which president Oboma is using is the provision of immediate supplement to social security for the low and middle income seniors. This is because the president understands that high prices are overburdening the seniors surviving on fixed incomes. He is providing to the middle and low income that are not benefiting from the tax credit, an immediate one time supplement to their social security benefit. Establishment of a kitty to assist families from foreclosure is another way which Obama is using to cushion the low income earners and the unemployed. This plan will aid people to live in their residentials and renegotiate with their lenders as well as preventing more decline in property values thus reducing the effect of a national foreclosure crisis on the state and household budgets. Lastly, he has initiated the provision of relief for local and state governments badly hit by housing crisis to protect curtailment of services like health education and infrastructure. This is because the housing crisis and sinking economy has resulted to significant decline of revenue in both state and local governments. In conclusion therefore, it is of a paramount importance for any government to ensure that the economy is properly managed to produce employment opportunities since failure to do so may result to eruption of incidences that ripple the welfare of a country. Work cited Adams Frank. Unemployment and Social Decay in Urban areas. Routledge, London, 2003, pp. 86 Anderson Ewan. An Introduction to Essentials of Economics.. Praeger Publishers, Westport CT, 2000, pp. 67 Earney Fillmore. The Global Indicators of Social Welfare. Macmillan Publishers, London, 1997, pp. 102 Gulluly James. The Principles of Economics. W. H Fremmil, 1998, pp. 23 Nelson Daniel. Unemployment Insurance: The American Experience. University of Wisconsin, 1999, NewYork, pp. 33 Snower Dennis. Unemployment Benefits: An Assessment for Reforms. Macmillan Publishers, London, 2000, pp. 16