Evaluate the polices the government should adopt if it wishes to achieve a low level of unemployment.

Authors Avatar

Employment in the UK essay question

(a) Describe the main changes in unemployment between 1989 and 2000 as shown in extract B:

In 1989 we can see that unemployment was quite high at 5.9%, it began to rise and reached a peak in 1993 at 9.7 million. There was a recession in the early 1990’s which reflects the high rate of unemployment. We can then see that the percentage of unemployed began to slowly decrease down to a low 3.6% in 2000.

Overall we can see that unemployment rose quite fast between 1989 and 1993 until it reached its peak and slowly decreased down to 3.6% over a period of 11 years.

(b) Using examples from the extracts, explain 3 possible causes of unemployment:

From extract C the first possible cause of unemployment,

The first is fluctuation in aggregate demand. The source tells us that we need a stable and growing economy for unemployment levels to rise. Consumption is a large factor of aggregate demand and this relies on the people’s income. So if people are unemployed, they will not have as much money to go out and buy products. This will bring the aggregate demand curve downwards and to the left. (See diagram 1) If the aggregate demand curve falls, GDP will fall significantly. This is also the same with investment, if income is low; people are less likely to invest. However, if the aggregate demand curve fluctuates to the right quite quickly, it can lead to inflation. There will be fewer jobs available because people are spending less, which in the long run, can cause unemployment.

Join now!

Another possible cause of unemployment is having a large majority of the population, being unskilled workers. In extract D, it tells us that a problem with Britain’s most deprived areas is not necessarily the lack of jobs, but people not being skilled enough to take advantage of nearby labour markets. This is caused by a lack of education and qualifications, if people don’t have these, then they usually are unable to get the job. A way the government could over come this problem and get more people employed is by offering them training courses. Lack of education is a very ...

This is a preview of the whole essay