Unemployment Rates

As several states are experiencing a fall in unemployment rates, the overall national average paints a bleaker picture, as it is starting to slowly rise, causing an array of social and economic problems for the ordinary citizen. There are more than 1.69 million Americans unemployed currently. This number is awful and means that more Americans are slowly being put on state aid and draining society of invaluable resources which could otherwise be spent on education or health provision. This strikes at the core of the budget for the states, which are spread very thin as it is across all the required public departments.

As the economy continues to be very shaky and with numerous major corporations going under due to mismanagement in recent years; there has seen a spike in the number of companies who are crashing on the stock market, meaning jobs have been lost and wages slashed. Couple this with the fact that the inflation rate is rising, the minimum wage is the same, and you are looking at a very bleak outcome for the financial future of America and its people. Something has to be changed now in order to reinvigorate our economy and our people.

Many people are able to enjoy comfortable lifestyles while many others are left with jobs that pay minimum wage, or barely over. Many Americans are busy working 40 hours plus a week and barely struggling to make enough to cover the bare essential bills. It is a tragedy the way the economy is functioning; with a great number of people getting richer, those who are financially struggling are continuing to struggle in a perpetual cycle of debt and poverty

The interest rates have hit all time lows, which has resulted in an enormous number of people purchasing their first homes. This has increased the number of people moving from rentals to the homeownership world. However, this has a price, owning a home is never cheap; the expenses must be paid somehow, and this is taking its toll on the already tightened purse strings of most Americans.

The biggest problems with the economy are the lack of jobs over all. There are several major companies all across the country who are being courted by cities all around for new plants and factories to be built in their area so that an abundance of jobs would be available. These plants are few and far between, leaving the rest of the citizens without a job, and trying to desperately to grapple at the few minimum wage jobs available that offer 10-20 hours a week. If more was done to encourage big business to provide work domestically, this would at least work some way towards improving the lives of many Americans.

How to overcome these problems is something that many politicians are faced with the task of on an almost daily basis. The residents of their areas are forced to seek guidance and attempt to make changes for the better in order to improve the quality of life for everyone. People are always seeking ways to improve and better the economy, yet one of the biggest economic flaws is the national minimum wage staying the same for so many years, while the inflation rate has steadily risen.

The issues of new jobs, better benefits, higher pay, and more hours are always brought up in almost every state at political executive meets. Some states are in a very fortunate position where they are not forced to worry about the unemployment rates, they have managed to find a recipe for success and have lowered the unemployment rates to cater for the needs of their populous. If the nation as a whole can lower the rates, we will be moving towards some much-needed economic improvement, and the knock-on social benefits this brings through reduced crime and improving quality of life for the citizens of America all round.