Emergency Plan for Unemployment

In the modern society, work has become the center of our lives. Work-related parameters determine our social status...

In the last 200 years, work has become more than a way to provide sustenance, raise children, and save for old age. Our jobs, positions, and incomes have become key elements in the self-esteem of many of us, as well as how we are perceived by society. Often, work is also a social framework, an indication of our personal success, and the seminal value by which we are brought up from an early age. One of the most common questions a child is asked is, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Invariably, the answer involves an occupation. But why do children limit their answers to their dream jobs? Is working at this or that job, or having this or that profession, the height of our aspirations?..

One of the most significant problems resulting from the global crisis is the rise in unemployment, due to low demands , a decline in private consumption, closing of factories, and staff cuts by employers. All of these have an immediate effect on the job market. Not only is the number of unemployed rising, but so is the decline in the number of jobs available... Put differently, once a worker is laid off, it is harder to find a new job, which prolongs the unemployment period. Some of the unemployed are completely eliminated from the job market and stop looking for a job altogether because they have given up hope of find a job...

Among the plights of the economic crisis is the contraction in production, both in the industry, and in the overblown services sector. This occurs due to contraction in the market, in foreign trade, private consumption, and in the global stock markets. Job cuts are expected not only in the private sector, but also in the public sector, primarily because governments are driven into implementing emergency plans, part of which means cutting expenses and diminishing the workforce among civil servants...

The true numbers of unemployed in the U.S. and Europe are far higher than reported. The current method of measuring unemployment excludes people who aren’t seeking work by their own volition, or who have given up on re-entering the job market...

It seems as if the rise in unemployment rates worries governments and decision-makers because they fear it is launching social and economic unrest. The state strives to put the unemployed back to work as quickly as possible and is willing to pay the unemployed a basic ration for a limited period of time...

As we have seen, rising unemployment and bearish forecasts have created a problem that requires immediate attention. Even countries where the economy is currently solid would do well to adopt the programs presented in this chapter...

To deal with the problem of unemployment, we must set up an emergency mechanism whose goals are as follows...

The content of the permanent study framework for unemployed that were “hired” to study in it will be as follows...

Systemic and government stability. The government will not be perceived by people as indifferent or as doing only the necessary minimum, but as an entity that regards unemployment as a high-priority issue and allocates substantial resources for that purpose, primarily in developing human capital and people’s social skills...

Immediate implementation of the program holds great benefits to those who have lost their jobs, starting with the ability to provide for one’s family, through acquiring life-skills and tools for managing the family budget...

At the end of the day, it is hard for us to come to terms with the fact that unemployment has not yet peaked, but is expected to climb to unprecedented proportions...