Essay Sample on Unemployment Problem

American social activist, leader of the civil rights movement, politician, professor, and writer, Julian Bond, states that "As legal slavery passed, we entered into a permanent period of unemployment and underemployment from which we have yet to emerge." Many countries around the world suffer from unemployment. One of these countries is Belize. Belize is a very culturally rich country that strives and hangs on by a thread in many ways. Unemployment is a big issue in Belize and affects almost the entire country and the economy. "Its current unemployment rate stands at 10.2% (Country Statistics, 2015) the lowest in the last five years. (Causes of Unemployment in Belize) Over time, the rate of unemployment in Belize has slowly risen year after year, with a surge in 2020 caused by COVID-19. Belize's population as of 2020 was 397,621. Belize's small size and population make it hard for them to achieve economic growth. The economic state of Belize is experiencing difficulty, mainly due to unemployment. However, a new program called the Unemployment Relief Program flashes a shimmer of hope for the people of Belize.

"When people lose their jobs, they lose their money, their family can't eat, they can't pay taxes, and they can't buy, rent, or own anything, so a job is needed to survive." (Causes Of Unemployment In Belize) Belize has been tremendously affected by unemployment for many years and is still struggling. The cause of unemployment in Belize is not defined, but there are a few clear reasons. Such as uneducated adults, few businesses, and economic instability. There are many people affected by this problem in Belize today, but it mainly affects women and young children. "The rate for men was 11.9 percent, and for women it was almost twice as high, at 22.4 percent. The unemployment rate among those 14 to 24 years of age was 30 percent." (Lindauer, David) Weakness in the labor market causes high unemployment, and women and younger children are a part of the weak community. Belize's regulations are more flexible than those of other countries, and yet they are still struggling with unemployment.

"While Belize and the rest of the world at large continue to battle with the crippling effects of COVID-19, unemployment has quickly risen to crisis status in the country." (Leslie, Kory) Eventually, after years of unemployment with no cure, the government of Belize began an unemployment relief program. This program was designed for people struggling to find jobs during the pandemic. The method of this program was to benefit the economy of Belize and keep the citizens healthy. The program would pay every unemployed person one hundred dollars every two weeks. This was designed to boost the economy by allowing the citizens to still buy things. They not only made this program to benefit the citizens and the economy but to help the GDP of the country. Throughout the global pandemic, many struggled to find jobs, even in wealthy countries like the United States. "The impact of unemployment, however, has not been restricted to hospitality workers. Through the COVID-19 Unemployment Relief Program, which was closed to new applications within a month, over 80,000 Belizeans applied for financial assistance to alleviate the effects of unemployment." (Leslie, Kory) This program began to benefit the country slowly and steadily and was a huge help during the pandemic.

"Through the COVID-19 Unemployment Relief Program, which was closed to new applications within a month, over 80,000 Belizeans applied for financial assistance to alleviate the effects of unemployment. The online application portal had to be closed by the end of April due to the government’s inability to accommodate the growing number of applicants." (Leslie, Kory) This program not only benefited the country tremendously, but it began to hurt it. Within a month of the unemployment relief program being put in place, the government had to close it. This was because too many of the unemployed began to apply and the government simply could not afford the cost. Not only did unemployment hurt the people, but it hurt the airlines of Belize. In March, the tourism sector was said to have suffered the biggest loss. It was said that 80% of all hotel staff and 100% of the tour operators would be out of work simply because of a sickness starting in China. With the hotel workers and tour operators losing jobs, that would total almost 14,000 Belizians being jobless. Finally, with the economy plummeting, it was extremely hard for businesses to hire, also hurting the unemployed.

Unemployment is real, detrimental, and serious. "As I never thought unemployment would happen to me, I imagined having to take a job I didn't necessarily want, but having no job at all wasn't anywhere on my radar. I think it's probably this way for a lot of unemployed individuals. And this is probably the greatest lesson that has come out of this experience: that the idea that people don't want to work, that the unemployed are somehow lazy or unmotivated, is a ridiculous myth." (Vicki Nash) Many people think of unemployment as a group of people who are too lazy to want to succeed. This is an utter lie. There are those types of people in the world, but it is not all of the unemployed. Most of the unemployed are truly looking for a job to feed their families and are not just sitting around. Unemployment is not only a big problem in Belize; it is also a problem in many other countries. Unemployment affects not only those who are already impoverished but also the wealthy. It affects those with families and those without. Unemployment can affect anyone and everyone, and there is no actual cause for unemployment as a whole. Harry S. Truman brings up a great idea: "It's a recession when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours." Many do not think about unemployment until they go through it themselves. The economic state of Belize is undergoing difficulty, mainly due to unemployment, and the unemployment program did not succeed in helping.