Communication Studies

S.B.A.
(CAPE)

Unemployment

Title: Unemployment
Name: Tarick Edwards
Date: 06 Feb 2009
Lecturer: Mrs V. Archer
Reg#: 1000101042
 Table of Content

Statement of the problem…………………………………….2

Description of the Information………………………………3

Evaluation of Information Gathered………….......................9

Conclusion…………………………………………………….11

Bibliography…………………………………………………..12

2
 Statement of the Problem

According to research, unemployment is one of the main problems in Jamaica.

This study intends to discover the effects of unemployment on family lives in Brown’s

Town, and the factors contributing to the increase in the number of unemployed persons.

The study also seeks to determine the causes of unemployment in the society and

the factors which are likely to get you into the unemployment queue. According to

observations and some books, unemployment creates a depressive impact-family

instability and relationship problems. The internet depicts that unemployment causes

family disorders. An interview was conducted which shows that unemployment is also

caused by religious, political and educational reasons. Rastafarians for examples have a

hard time getting a job because of their religion, the winning political party does not give

jobs to voters or supporters of the opposing party and a lack of education is responsible

for many people being unemployed as most jobs require at least a high school.

The Daily Gleaner dated; September 07, 2008, shows that unemployment is

caused by laziness and lack of education, because jobs are always being advertised in the

Daily Gleaner and most times no one turns up for the position.

The growing rate of unemployment in Jamaica has always been an issue that

puzzles and interests me. The many problems include crime and violence and the

lowering of people’s self-esteem. By completing this research, the researcher hopes to

explore the many causes of unemployment, a realization of the seriousness of the

problem in the country and suggestions as to what can be done to alleviate this problem.

My views on the minimization of unemployment is for the Government to increase the

Growth and development of the educational and training systems and the economy.

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 Description of Information Gathered

Causes and effects

Observations were conducted among employed and unemployed families. The

unemployed families suffered from abnormal family functioning and

instability, contemptible spending pattern and life style, low social class. Father’s

unemployment on the family affects adolescent’s behavior.

The internet wikipedea.com\Unemployment and the family by Voydanoff,

Patricia (2006) and lubs.leeds.ac.uk.com-Causes of unemployment and policies to

achieve full employment By Malcolm Sawyer (2007) support my observations. I drew a

conclusion from the websites that unemployment is caused by varieties of problems,

mainly, education and training, or physical disabilities, for example; blindness, paralysis

and non-consciousness.

Bar graph showing No. of people that

unemployment affects their family's relations and
stability

70%

60%

50%

40% 70%
% of persons
30%

20% 30%

10%

0%
Yes No
Opinions

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 According to the web site STATIN.com the statistical institute of Jamaica defines

the unemployed as “Persons who are available to work and currently seeking work, but

the person is without work”. From November 2008, the world is experiencing a drastic

economical depression, which affects the Jamaican labor force ruthlessly. The labor force

survey published late January 2009 says that the unemployment rate increased by 20%

since November 2008. Even at this rate Pearnel Charles (Minister of labor) believes

That “unemployment is a most difficult problem facing the majority of our people

especially in the inter city areas and in particular the youth” he said that not being able to

care for one’s family and putting a shelter over their heads is dehumanizing and

debilitating for those affected. He concluded that the opportunity to provide jobs lies at

the basis of the country’s development. To solve the problem of unemployment he said

“we need to provide a developed society with a macro economy frame work that will

encourage people to invest in the country”. He noted that we should not only be

concerned about those who are recorded as unemployed but those who are

underemployed, and special attention to those who are unemployable.

Graph Comparing 2008 & 2009 Unemployment rate & Labor

Force %

70%

60%

50%
% Population

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
Unemployment Rate Unemployment Rate The Labor Force 2008 The Labor Force 2009
2008 2009

5
A very substantial interview process, carried out by the researcher, among working class

and unemployed individual and majority believe that human capital (education) and

entrepreneurship which needs to be fostered to promote sustainable development. They

said that the government must seek to develop programmes to target small and micro

enterprises. They wish that the government would design a realistic, practical and

transparent regime of incentive and training in order to give momentum to small business

development. They stress that the ministry must not comprise probity, transparency and

issues relating to standard, and quality in its effort to emphasize small business

facilitation. They suggested that the country needs to educational implementations in

place because you cannot put uneducated people to operate business. The graph below

was gathered at the interview by the authorized officials.

Bar graph showing the education level of the people

None 20

Primary 50
Education level

Secondary 20

Tertiary 10

0 10 20 30 40 50 60
No. of persons (%)

6
 It can be said that some religious groups have hard time getting a job;

Rastafarians have a hard time finding a Job; they are been suppressed in the world of

work because of religious reasons. Political issues also affect unemployment of some

people; for example the last election in Jamaica, the Jamaica labor party (J.L.P.) won, and

a lot of persons from the opposing party losses there job in many companies and were

replaced by supporters of leading; or even most of all, lack jobs most times is the main

problem.

Donut showing factors contributing to

unemployment

Lack of education/skills
Lack of jobs
Lackadaisical
Religious reasons
Others

16% 20%

8%

20%
36%

7
 Some questionnaires were handed out to various persons different race, class,

religion, educational background, health status, etc, to make sure there is an equality and

no bias in the information gathered.

Pie showing the type of effects people faces

8%
12%
Financially
Economically
Psycologocically
20% 60%
Others

8
 Reduction of unemployment

In addition to the in the other sources, according to the gleaner dated; September 07,

2008, the government strives to subjugate unemployment in Jamaica; the Gleaner states

that many effort is put in place to reduce on employment in the country and that

unemployment is caused by laziness and lack of education, because jobs are always been

advertised in the Daily Gleaner, and most time no one turn up for these position. There is

emphasis to create jobs in place in some cases.

Graph showing number of jobs Avialable against

Qualified persons

200
180
160
140
120
no. of jobs 100
80
60
40
20
0
Jobs offered No. of Qualified Individuals

9
 Evaluation of Information Gathered

From the Newspaper article in the career section of the Sunday gleaner, it can be

construed that the information gathered is credible and reliable and valid since the

information is up to date and factual. This conclusion is based on the fact that the

newspaper is written for mass audience and the data put forward by the editors has gone

through intensive research on this topic. The Gleaner also has a reputation of putting

forward credible information.

The information gathered from the internet websites on unemployment is factual

as there was no bias in the information. The data placed on their website as done by

trained professionals in the field of economics, psychology and business.

The source is also valid as their website is persistently updated with new

information on this topic. This source expresses the main issue which leads to

unemployment in society.

Like the Internet, the writing discourse of the Gleaner is generally not full of technical

terms and is usually easy to understand, The Gleaner tends to provide more in depth

information on the topics they are writing about.

The information gathered from the observation is trustworthy and plausible,

because there was no attempt to create false report or to fix the evidence to fit

requirements.

In addition to the observations, the researcher conducts some interviews with

authorized persons in the field of business and economics so there was no fake

10
information gathered at the interviews. They were structured interviews with set

questions; therefore, the information can be seen as credible and reliable.

The questionnaires were handed out to the respondents. They got ample time to

complete the questions properly without my disturbance and any forced choice. The

questions were handed to people of all kind, as mentioned in the description of

information.

11
 Conclusions

It can be safely said from the information gathered that unemployment can’t be

generalized as being caused by just one thing, but is caused by a variety of reasons. Some

of the main factors are: relevant skills, educational qualifications, and the organization of

choice. More emphasis should be placed in educating people and creating jobs.

12
 Bibliography

 Voydanoff, Patricia (2006) Unemployment and the family [online available]

wikipedea.com 15/12/2008 html

 Simon, Mark (2009) Economical depression on Unemployment [online available]

STATIN.com 25/01/2009 html

 Charles, AS. ; Smith, L [Personal Interview] 28 December 2008

 Codner, TB. (September 07, 2008) Unemployment crisis and jobs available. The
Daily Gleaner. p15

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