ComputerHunter.org |
|
|
|||
|
 |
Battling Societys Cancer: Unemployment
The official figures are staggering: 35% of the workforce - about 280,000 people - are unemployed and looking for a job. Each 1.43 employee support 1 unemployed person. In the USA the figure is 3.3 to 4 employees supporting all the unemployed AND all the pensioners! The truth is less ominous. Many employed people in Macedonia go unreported. Their employers prefer not to report them as employed in order to avoid paying social benefits and retirement benefits to the state. This greatly distorts the official figures - yet, it would be safe to assume that the unemployment rate in Macedonia is close to 20%. Unemployment has only bad aspects. A certain level of unemployment is considered to be healthy. People move between workplaces - this is called labour mobility. People desert old professions for new ones, training themselves to occupy higher paid, higher education positions. This kind of healthy unemployment is called "friction unemployment". A level of 3% to 6% is considered to be friction unemployment in the West (depending in which country). But the kind of unemployment that is prevalent in Macedonia is not of this kind. It is permanent in the sense that the same people are unemployed continuously for more than a year. It is habit - forming: people lose their self dignity, they become dependent on outside assistance, they are afraid to face reality. Such unemployment has grave psychological consequences. People change under its influence to such an extent that they no longer qualify as workers. This affects the situation inside families. People who used to provide for their families are cast aside as no goods, losers with no prospects for the future. This deeply and adversely affects the very fabric of society's basic unit: the family. But unemployment also has a great macroeconomic impact. The State doles out millions of DM each month to pay unemployment benefits. Multiply 60-100 DM per month per 283,000 job seekers - and you will face the frightening figures the Macedonian Minister of Finance is faced with every morning. Instead of putting this money to productive use - it is spent on keeping people idle at home on an allowance which is not even enough for bare subsistence. No one is happy: the Government - because its budget is unduly and unnecessarily inflated, the nation - because good money is thus spent instead of being invested and the unemployed - because they can hardly survive on what the State gives them. Unemployment is not unique to economies in transition. Even much stronger economies - like France's and Spain's - suffer from it. Spain's real unemployment rate is similar to Macedonia's. What are the long term, structural causes for unemployment? There are more theories than there are unemployed people. Some say that free trade encourages unemployment of unskilled and semi-skilled labour. Factories move overseas to places where labour is cheaper. Inexpensive imports of textiles and basic electronic wares compete with the local production and - usually - wound it badly. Others blame labour market rigidities. If the psychology of employees and employers alike is that of "one big family" where no one is fired even in hard times and even if he is incompetent. If the laws and regulations of the state are in favour of a static workforce. If social benefits (annual vacation, sick pay, child support) increase the costs of employing - unemployment will be created. Employers will not hire additional staff in times of economic boom - because they will not be able to fire them in time of crisis. They will prefer to manufacture in places where labour costs are negotiable and low. Where trade unions have been abolished (Britain and the USA are the prime examples) - unemployment all but disappeared. Yet others emphasize the technological revolution (mainly in the fields of informatics). So many professions become obsolete at such a quick pace - and so many professions are revolutionized so often - that more jobs are lost than created. But whatever the reasons are for unemployment - certain countries are battling this cancer of society in creative ways. During the 1990's, Israel - a country with 4,500,000 million people and 20,700 square kilometres - absorbed an inflow of more than 600,000 immigrants (=15% of the population), mainly from the former USSR. One could expect a dramatic increase in unemployment. If Macedonia were to absorb 300,000 additional immigrants (=15% of its population) tomorrow - its unemployment rate would have skyrocketed until the newcomers would have been absorbed by the marketplace. Not only did Israel succeed in providing most of this deluge of immigrants with jobs - it also reduced the overall rate of unemployment among its old population! How did it succeed in doing the impossible? Israel decided to give the unemployment benefits to the employer - not to the unemployed. Let us study an example: The average unemployment benefit was 900 DM per person per month. The average salary which an employer was supposed to pay this person if he were employed - would have been 1400 DM per month. The Government came to the employer with the following suggestion: Find employment for the unemployed person. Pay him a salary of 1400 DM. We will give you, the employer, 900 DM - instead of paying this amount directly to the unemployed person in the form of unemployment benefits. So, everyone was happy: The employer hired an experienced and well - educated worker for 500 DM (The difference between the 1400 DM that he paid him - and the 900 DM that he got back from the Government). The unemployed person - because he finally found employment with a real chance to continue to be employed in the future if he really contributed to the business that he was employed in. The Government was happy - because it did not increase its budgetary outlays and expenditures. Yet, at the same time it has increased the level of employment in the economy. Another Israeli twist: the Government also paid part of the social benefits of the person who was previously unemployed in his first three years of employment. This saved the employer a lot of money and encouraged him to employ and to report the employed person to the authorities. A whole different approach was experimented with in Great Britain. All those unemployed in a specific geographic region were assembled into a "Community". The Community included a wide variety of professions: carpenters and tailors, electricians and farm hands, gardeners and teachers. A computerized centre was set up. Each unemployed person registered with this centre, listing both his professional capabilities - and goods and services that he was interested in, but did not have the money to purchase. A matching process then ensued: the tailor was looking for a teacher to give his children some private lessons (which he could not afford in his current financial straits). The teacher was looking for a tailor to saw a communion dress for her daughter. So, the computer matched them up: The teacher tutored the tailor's children - in return for his services in sawing the dress for her daughter. Both of them were thus employed, recovering their sense of self-worth and dignity. Moreover, both of them were able to afford things which were badly needed by them but which they could afford under no other circumstances. This is a return to primordial, pre-monetary, barter economy. But who will determine how many private lessons provided by the teacher - are worth one dress sawed by the tailor? A special tariff was published. It reflected the conditions which prevailed in the "real" marketplace in which real money changed hands. To ease the "payment" process - special Community money was printed in lieu of the unemployment benefits which the government used to dole out to the members of the Community. Now, each member of the Community received from the Government a monthly allowance in Community money (instead of real money) which he was able to use only with other members of the community, unemployed as he was. This way, the purchasing power of the unemployed was used exclusively with the other unemployed, easing their overall situation. It also eased the Government's situation - because it did not have to print additional money to pay out unemployment benefits. Admittedly, this was a fairly small and restricted experiment - but it was so successful that I believe that it warrants the attention of every nation facing high unemployment. About The Author Sam Vaknin is the author of "Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited" and "After the Rain - How the West Lost the East". He is a columnist in "Central Europe Review", United Press International (UPI) and ebookweb.org and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory, Suite101 and searcheurope.com. Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government of Macedonia. His web site: http://samvak.tripod.com
Google News - Top Stories
|
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Unemployment Iraqi Style Let's put it all into perspective: the U.S. has an unemployment rate hovering at just above the 5% level (although much higher in ethnic populations). Iraq has an unemployment rate in the 75% range. The G-8 and Other Figureheads The Presidents Before Washington: Think You Dont Need A License for A Wireless Microphone? Think Again Believe it or not, every theatre, church, or Britney Spears wannabe using a wireless microphone is supposed to have a license for it. No, I'm not making this stuff up. Don't believe me? Here's the FCC rule! International Terrorists Have US Partners; The Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission in their latest move to increase (MUD) Much Unnecessary Disclosure on the Franchisors of this Nation is helping the International Terrorists with in depth information. By requiring extra disclosure the FTC is making what would normally be private business information into public knowledge and part of the franchising rules required disclosure. Including addresses and names of all outlets and owners. The FTC will not even look into this complaint and continues to this day to jeopardize the American People's safety. The New Goo Review is Coming Right At You Non-lethal Goo Concepts have been tossed around by many war planners and Advance Weapon Think Tanks as an alternative to lethal force. Impeding the enemy army advancement and rendering them useless in battlespace has several positives. The logistical supply chains of the enemy are completely stopped. The fighting ability of the enemy is severely limited and may leave no option but surrender or annihilation. MAURITANIA: Celebrating Tayas Ouster? Musical Chairs No Longer Fashionable In Africa A few hours ago, Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, the National Director of Security of Mauritania, launched himself into power and shut his boss, President Maaoya Taya, out of Nouakchott. Tax Dollars and Transparency of Government Agencies As we watch fewer Americans voting it is no wonder why, they have lost faith in their government. Why can't we as citizens who own our government demand equal and/or reasonable compliance with our tax dollars? Why can't we demand the same from government as they enforce on our corporations? Why can't government clean it's act up and stop flushing our monies down the toilets? No wonder so many government workers wanted to install two more Johns in the white house during our last election; they obviously believe no one is watching and need more toilets to flush our money down in DC? Can you imagine for one minute the Government trying to comply with Sarbaines Oxley? They would crumble, stagnate and become even more ineffective than they already are. Israel Termed A ?Nuclear Power? By US Officials In the last two weeks, two non-senior US officials indirectly called on Israel to start planning on cancelling its nuclear weapons programs. Even though they said this is not intended for 'the foreseeable future', their publicly terming Israel a nuclear power on a par with India and Pakistan might be a sign that the US perceives of nuclear issues as too serious to condone the double standards it employs freely on other issues. How to Become a Whistle Blower Since the United States Government is promoting the whistle blower concept it is every citizens duty to report fraud and abuse of power in any branch of government. We must have an equal and level playing field. If the government relies on snitches, tattle tales and disgruntled whistle blowers to make up lies and report them to government regulators and honors such folks, then this is a clear signal to seek out dishonest government. Fight Terror, With Education A War on Terrorism? Conventional war being brought on an unconventional enemy is ineffective out of date. Building these countries up to a certain level of stability, and allowing them to take over and govern themselves is part of the Presidents plan. If we think the need help getting to build a stable and profitable country in the world market, than let's say what we mean and just do it. Weapons of mass destruction if we had enough evidence to invade Iraq we should have hit those sights first and had those weapons in the first days. Oh, they must have hidden them, well how did we know about them in the first place. It has been more than two years since the bold and terrible attack on the World Trade Towers, and we are chasing shadows here and there. The American Military, the greatest fighting force on the planet, can only find a couple of the main targets. We cannot win a war like this. The US Navy, Marines, Air Force and Army are the best trained and most well equipped fighting force in the world. But for all of their advanced weaponry and the technological advantage they have; they still seem like a lumbering giant searching for the little Indian jumping from tree to tree. Just to use an analogy, I am not prejudice let's get that out of the way right now so I don't have to apologize to every race I may happen to mention. The subject of prejudice would take a whole paper of its own. So let's get back to the subject at hand. How can we stop Terror? UK Elections on the Horizon With elections on the horizon and Blair looking tired and increasingly defensive, just what is likely outcome of the next election? The New Labour adoption of Tory plans and policies has created an almost parallel party in terms of the Conservatives and Labour. Many people are confused and find it hard to tell them apart. The Labour Party will struggle to retain the loyalties of the staunch labour support it has enjoyed over the decades. Famous Filibusters in Political History The filibuster as a political delaying tactic has been a part of the American political process since the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. Though it was not used in the early years of the nation, the filibuster has been used hundreds of times since the 1840's. Here are a few of the famous filibusters from our political history. Bringing Back Mining Jobs to the United States With new environmental technologies and modern efficiency methods in mining can we revive this sector of our economy. It would be great for manufacturing costs and coupled with the current low dollar we stand to make gain quite a bit if we can. By doing this the job of doing mining correctly it is feasible, but environmental laws are not the only regulations that mining operations have to deal with, once you let those bastard regulators on the property they are only interested in finding something wrong to pay for their trip. Union Members Don t Be Fooled, Conservative Talkers Have it in for You Ever wonder why labor unions consistently endorse democrats over republicans in nearly every election? The answer is simple. Democratic officials support the right of workers to unionize and collectively bargain. Ronald Reagan, the great communicator, communicated loud and clear that he didn't recognize unions, or their right to strike, when he decertified the air traffic controllers union in 1981. This executive order led to the largest labor protest in our nation's history when 400, 000 men and women protested in Washington, DC against the policies of the Reagan administration. Reagan's message was clear; it is legal to fire striking workers. Free Trade, Outsourcing, Protectionism and Reality Check Recently on C-SPAN, there were two gentlemen debating free trade one from the CATO Institute for free trade. Yet he failed to mention the real problem, the lawyers, over regulation and government bureaucracy. They seem to be under the impression that Americans did not want to work in manufacturing jobs? What on Earth was he thinking? If the CATO Institute, a conservative free enterprise think tank, is going to go on National Television and debate free trade, surely they have more depth to understand the plight of the manufacturers in this country. Thinking on Energy Regarding the de-regulation of energy, this is not such a bad idea really; even the commoditizing of energy is not such a bad idea. This can be done correctly and can assist businesses in judging costs and allow entrepreneurs to understand their costs and turn variable costs into fixed costs meaning more investment in R and D, co-generation, and larger capital expenditures for manufacturing, knowing things will be okay. We see a huge problem with factories, which switched to Natural Gas to save the environment and get some tax breaks and this winter may be put out of business due to the rising costs during the coming shortage of Natural Gas. Using More Trees to Reduce Atmospheric CO2 As global warming continues to escalate the concerns of today's scientists, the federal government has been spending millions in research in an attempt to reduce greenhouse emissions, the substance that has been credited with the increase in planet temperature since the beginning of the 20th century. If Terrorists Are To Become Slick Politicians, Yhey Need Time Rather Than God on Their Side The number of countries in the world at the moment that are in some form of transition is higher than some ten years ago, and in some ways more efforts are made to resolve situations that threaten stability. And the moves of all involved parties are not without major-league risks. Canning International Terrorists? Literally Well here is a great new product, we first saw this in our study on the Parking Industry at recent trade show. New Bomb Resistant Trashcans, Trashcan Anti-Bomb Receptacles for public safety now available. We Must Register AIDS Carriers and Homosexual Men It is a law that we register deadly weapons with the authorities. It is a law that if you are a black belt in a Martial Art, that you must register your hands as a deadly weapon in many states. In fact if you are in a fight and hurt someone, you will be charged with aggravated assault because you know how to use your limbs to kill. Well then if you are a homosexual male with a promiscuous displacement as most are by nature, then shouldn't one in that case register their member? This may sound like some sort of funny comment, registering one's sexual organ as a deadly weapon, although if a person with AIDS knowingly has sex with another, that is in fact attempted murder, therefore AIDS Carriers should be registered. These registered names should be on the Internet for all to see in the local area incase they attempt to pick someone up at a bar and so that if someone is to use the online dating methods, the other party can check to see if their potential homosexual date has the virus ahead of any meeting.
|
|
|
|
|
