Employment and Problem of Unemployment

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Employment and unemployment

Employment can be defined as the state of having a job that pays you income.

Unemployment

Unemployment is a state whereby an adult has no job doing and he gets no income at the end of the day or month.

Unemployment is a serious problem in Nigeria. This is because people who are ready to work are without job and therefore, cannot earn income to meet their expenses. They have a lot of idle time and these may lead them to get involved in negative activities.

Effects of unemployment

1. Poverty: A person who is unemployed is unlikely to have a reliable source of income. They become dependent on others who may not also have enough to cater for themselves. This results to them being poor for life most especially if they have a family to cater for. Consequently, this can lead them to being sick. Poverty fuels disease and disease fuels poverty.
2. Crime: A person who is jobless is likely to get him/herself involved in negative

activities because they do not have the means to meet up their basic needs. Therefore, they resort to stealing.

3. Begging: Due to inability of a person to take care of his/her needs, the individual can start moving from place to place (privately or publicly), asking others for alms so as to survive.
4. Low morale: A person who has been jobless for a long time begins to lose their self-esteem and they begin to doubt in their abilities. This can discourage them to stop the search for a job.

Solutions to unemployment

There are a number of steps which individuals, social organizations and the government can take to reduce unemployment in a country. Some of these steps are:

1. Skills enhancement: Some organizations are looking for candidates that are computer literate. It is the duty of the government to ensure that training on such skills is made available and affordable so we can have less jobless citizens in the country.
2. Entrepreneurship: An entrepreneur is one who sets up and runs his or her own business. In Nigeria today, we have a lot of entrepreneurs. To also solve the problem of unemployment, the government and some other social organizations should organize self-acquisition free trainings for these individuals so they can become self-employed.
3. Micro-credit: This is when banks and other institution come together to give unemployed citizens loans to start up their own business or to grow their business.
4. Encourage agriculture: If the government encouraged agriculture by making it profitable, we will have more people getting involved in agriculture and that will

make them become self-employed.

Discrimination in the workplace is unjust and it is something that should be frowned upon. People who have the same qualification should have the same opportunities for employment and promotion. Many times, people find out that they are unable to get certain jobs or advance at the workplace because of their gender or ethnicity. This is what we call the “Glass Ceiling”. The “glass Ceiling” is an unofficial and invisible barrier that prevents women or ethnic minorities from advancing in the workplace. It is a form of discrimination.

 

 

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