“Structural unemployment” (SR) - economic term, closely related to the decline in consumer interest in a certain product group, as well as technological progress. The growth of consumer interest in a certain product group leads to the need to increase production capacity and attract more workers to work. This factor helps reduce unemployment in this market segment. But at the same time, there is a decrease in demand for other categories of goods, which is the reason for the increase in the number of people not involved in the work process.
The group under consideration includes laid-off workers who have a high level of qualifications that do not meet the requirements modern production. Also included in the category of structural unemployment are representatives of those professions that have low demand in the labor market. In this article, we propose to consider what structural unemployment is and talk about the reasons for its occurrence.
In assessing the state of the economy of any country, an important indicator is the employment of the working-age population
Briefly about terminology
In order to define the term “structural unemployment”, it is necessary to become familiar with the basic terminology used in the field of economics. Only a comprehensive study of the issue under consideration will allow us to draw a conclusion about the reasons for its occurrence. So, let's get acquainted with the main terms that are closely related to the concept under consideration. “Able-bodied citizens” are the entire population of a particular country of adult age.
Unemployment is an economic phenomenon in which separate category citizens cannot take part in the process of providing services or creating commercial products.
The term “unemployed” is used to define able-bodied citizens who are not involved in the process of providing services and creating marketable products. Based on the above, we can conclude that unemployment is expressed by a phenomenon in which citizens of a country want to participate in the work process, but for various reasons they face difficulties in finding a suitable job. It is important to note that in this category does not include persons who have poor health or refuse to work for personal reasons.
There are four main types of unemployment:
- seasonal;
- cyclic;
- structural;
- frictional
According to experts assessing economic condition each region, the last two concepts are of particular importance in this list. In order to develop a method for combating SR, it is necessary to carefully study the causes of its occurrence.
Causes
According to economic experts, the causes of structural unemployment are closely related to the development of a certain market segment. Besides, Special attention is paid to the height of consumer demand for various product groups. The height of consumer demand is a dynamic value, which is characterized by sharp rises and rapid declines. A decrease in the interest of the target audience in a certain product group becomes the reason for the need to reduce production capacity which are used to produce these products. In such a situation, employers are faced with the need to carry out staff reduction procedures, which contributes to an increase in the number of unemployed.
Structural unemployment is formed in cases where technological adjustments (for example, modernization) are made to the process of creating goods and services Also, this phenomenon occurs as a result of changes in a certain manufacturing industry. Technological progress is causing the population's demand for certain goods to gradually decline to zero. This factor contributes to the closure of many companies and enterprises. An example would be a product such as a black and white TV. The advent of computers, laptops, smartphones and LCD monitors made black and white TV an irrelevant and unclaimed product. All of the above affects the state of the economy and the demand for representatives of certain professions.
Today, blacksmiths and glassblowers are in extremely low demand. Such professions as lamplighter and coachman have completely disappeared. They were replaced by more in-demand areas - designers, managers, PR specialists and programmers.
Difference between labor force and number of jobs
Structural unemployment is a parameter that determines the difference between the number of jobs and the number of representatives of certain professions. Speaking in simple words, this criterion reflects the number of people who can be fired, despite having certain professional skills and a high level of qualifications. The reason for the low demand for such workers is the lack of compliance with modern requirements of the manufacturing industry.
The category under consideration unites citizens who have lost workplace due to changes in the size of demand for certain product groups. With the development of the manufacturing industry, products produced by various factories are becoming very popular among consumers. This factor contributes to the need to increase production capacity, which requires the involvement of additional specialists in the work process. A decrease in consumer demand leads to a drop in sales.
In order to normalize financial condition of his company, the employer needs to fire employees who are not involved in the production process. In order to determine the structural unemployment index, analysts need to determine the total number of structural unemployed and the total number of working-age citizens. SR level is a dynamic value expressed in percentage.
A striking example structural unemployment: a worker fired from one industry cannot find a job in his specialty or move to work in another industry Let's consider the concept "Unemployment: causes, types, consequences." Unemployment - The presence in the country of people who are able and willing to work for hire at the current level of wages, but cannot find work in their specialty or find employment at all. Employment structure: disabled population, able-bodied population, voluntarily unemployed, economically active population. Disabled population - Able-bodied people who are not engaged in social production and do not seek to get a job: People who, due to age and health, are not able to work: Children under 16 years of age, Pensioners (men over 60 years old, women over 55 years old), disabled people . Voluntarily unemployed: Able-bodied people not engaged in public production and not seeking to get a job: Full-time students, Housewives, Vagrants, People who were looking for work, but despaired of finding it and therefore stopped looking for work. Employed: People who have a job, and it does not matter whether the person is employed full-time or part-time, full-time or part-time. A person is considered to be employed if he does not work for the following reasons: Ill, On vacation, On strike, Due to natural disasters. The following are considered unemployed: able-bodied citizens, without work and income, registered with the employment service, actively looking for work and waiting to start labor activity. Unemployment is a socio-economic phenomenon characterized by the lack of work for part of the population. Types of unemployment: From the point of view of the nature of the displacement of a worker from production - forced, voluntary. From the point of view of the causes and conditions for the occurrence of unemployment - frictional, structural, cyclical, seasonal. Frictional unemployment - Associated with searching for work and waiting for work for various reasons, for example, moving due to a change in marital status, graduation from a university. This type of unemployment involves the movement of labor across industries, regions, due to age, change of profession, etc. Features of frictional unemployment: Ready-made specialists with a certain level of professional training and qualifications are looking for work, Unemployment of this type usually lasts a short period of time, Promotes a more rational distribution of labor and higher productivity. Structural unemployment is characterized by a mismatch between labor demand and supply in various firms, industries, and various professions; the profession “disappears” as a result of scientific and technical progress. Longer and more expensive. Cyclical unemployment - caused by changing phases in the production cycle. Represented by workers laid off at a time when the entire economy is suffering from a recession. It is believed that when the economy improves, such workers will find work again. Seasonal unemployment - as a result of necessity, seasonal work is carried out in a number of industries (for example, in agriculture). Natural unemployment - there is only frictional and structural unemployment in the country. Consequences of unemployment: economic and non-economic. Homework.
Structural unemployment is associated with changes in technology, as well as with the fact that the market for goods and services is constantly changing: new goods appear that displace old ones that are not in demand. In this regard, enterprises are reconsidering the structure of their resources and, in particular, labor resources. As a rule, the introduction of new technologies leads to either the dismissal of part of the workforce or the retraining of personnel.
It is clear that the structure of production cannot remain unchanged. As a result of scientific and technological progress and technological changes, the structure of demand for labor is also changing. The need for some types of professions is decreasing, while other specialties are disappearing altogether. But there is a demand for new professions that did not previously exist.
Such unemployment is already much more painful for people than frictional unemployment. The emergence of structural unemployment means that many people will have to learn new professions; it is impossible to avoid structural unemployment. This is due to the fact that technological progress constantly gives birth to new products, technologies and even entire industries (currently such industries are usually associated with computer technology, which is how professions such as web designer, system administrator and many others have appeared). As a result, the structure of demand for labor is changing dramatically. And people with professions that are no longer needed find themselves out of work, joining the ranks of the unemployed.
So, for example, along with computers from abroad came a new “generation” of software products that allow you to communicate with a machine without an intermediary - a programmer. To keep or get a job, old-school programmers had to urgently retrain, master new programming languages and new software packages.
Structural unemployment, for all its pain, may also not worry the country, but only if total number free seats not inferior to the number of people job seekers, although having other specialties. If there are fewer jobs at all, this means that the country has a third, most unpleasant form of unemployment - cyclical.
Cyclical unemployment is characteristic of countries experiencing a general economic downturn. In this case, crisis phenomena arise not in individual, but in almost all commodity markets. Most firms in the country are experiencing difficulties, and therefore mass layoffs begin almost simultaneously and everywhere. As a result, the total number of available jobs in the country is less than the number of unemployed. In the phases of recovery and recovery, new jobs appear and unemployment disappears.
We can also highlight seasonal unemployment associated with unequal production volumes performed by some industries in different periods of time, that is, in some months the demand for labor in these industries increases (and, therefore, unemployment decreases), in others it decreases (and unemployment increases ). Industries that are characterized by seasonal fluctuations in production volumes (and therefore employment) include, first of all, agriculture and construction.
Therefore, sometimes seasonal workers are classified as unemployed (albeit not quite rightfully). They remain unemployed because some activities can only be carried out during certain periods of the year.
Voluntary unemployment is caused by the fact that in any society there is a layer of people who, due to their mental makeup or for other reasons, do not want to work. It also occurs in cases where an employee quits due to at will, if he is dissatisfied with the level of remuneration for his work, working conditions, or some other circumstances.
Finally, we can distinguish another type of unemployment - hidden unemployment, which is typical for the domestic economy. Its essence is that in conditions of incomplete use of enterprise resources caused by the economic crisis, enterprises do not fire workers, but transfer them either to reduced working hours (part-time work week or working day), or are sent on forced unpaid leave. Formally, such workers cannot be recognized as unemployed, but in fact they are.
Studying the problems of unemployment, economic science came to the conclusion: frictional and structural unemployment are normal phenomena and do not pose a threat to the development of the country. Moreover, without them, development is simply impossible. After all, if all workers are busy, then how can you create new companies or expand the production of goods that are in high demand on the market? In addition, the presence of unemployment makes people fear losing their jobs and encourages them to work more productively and efficiently. From these positions, unemployment can well be called an incentive to better job. That's why under full employment in most developed countries the world understands the absence of cyclical unemployment in the presence of frictional and structural unemployment. Those. when unemployment in a country corresponds to its natural rate.
Unemployment – social concept, meaning that there are a number of people who do not have a job but would like to find one. This does not take into account people who for some reason cannot work. That is, only those who are ready to start work are considered unemployed. In our country, people aged 15 to 72 years can be considered unemployed - this is the age that is considered working.
Unemployment classification
There are several types of unemployment:
- voluntary;
- forced;
- structural;
- frictional
In addition to these types, we can talk about registered unemployment, when people looking for work are registered with the employment authorities, and hidden unemployment, when:
- people are employed, but do not work at full capacity or do not work at all, but do not quit;
- people are not employed and are not registered as unemployed.
Examples of unemployment
Voluntary unemployment
Voluntary – people do not want to work or look for work. It is believed that up to 15 percent of the working-age population do not want to work. They can be forced to work, but at the slightest opportunity they will leave their job and will not look for a new one. Voluntary unemployment increases during economic booms. Also, the percentage of voluntary unemployment is high where the difference between wages and social benefits are minimal.
A subtype of voluntary unemployment can be considered marginal. This category includes homeless people and other individuals who do not consider it necessary to work.
Another subtype of voluntary unemployment is youth unemployment. People aged 18 to 25 may not work for various reasons: they do not consider it necessary, they do not want to, they are supported by their parents, they cannot find a job that meets their salary and career expectations.
Involuntary unemployment
It is also called waiting unemployment. There are three options for involuntary unemployment:
- seasonal - it is typical for some industries, for example, for Agriculture when work can only be performed in a certain season;
- cyclical – associated with changes in the economy; during recessions, demand for products decreases, which means less labor is needed; during periods of recovery, demand increases, which means the number of jobs increases;
- technological – it is associated with the development of technology and the emergence of new equipment; for example, a mechanical assembly line employed 50 people, but an automatic line only requires three workers, which means 47 people become unemployed.
Structural unemployment
This type of unemployment is typical for periods when the qualification requirements of workers do not coincide with the skills of these same workers. Production is developing, new equipment is appearing, some professions are becoming irrelevant. These people cannot get a job without retraining; they have to change their profession. Structural unemployment differs more from cyclical unemployment for a long time and more difficult search for a new job. If with cyclical unemployment a worker can get a job at another enterprise, then with structural unemployment there are simply no such other enterprises, because they have all switched to new level. An example is stove makers and chimney sweeps, whose numbers sharply decreased with the development of steam heating.
Frictional unemployment
This is natural unemployment associated with the search for work. People leave their jobs in search of a new job where they will receive a higher salary, be able to build a career or receive some kind of social bonuses.
Frictional unemployment is normal social phenomenon. It is inevitable even in the most prosperous economy.