Political Science

The United States of America, being the strongest economy in the world is one of the countries with the best employment rates. In spite of this fact, a big number of workers have been sent home, thanks to the recent economic recession which started in 2007. Many of those who had no jobs also failed to secure employment for long periods of time. Unemployment rate has been on the rise since 2007, and this has been caused primarily by the global economic recession. During the 1990-1991 recession, unemployment rate went up for fifteen consecutive. When Bush won the election to rule for the second term, the unemployment rate went on rising and reached its maximum in 1992. Even after the recession stopped in 2001, it took five months for the wages of the workers to go up. At the same time, the rate of unemployment did not go down to the same level where it was before the recession, until 2005. Economists believe that the economic recession that started in December 2007 will make the rate of unemployment to continue rising until it reaches a maximum ( which they say is In the near future) and then stagnate at this peak until 2015 (Gilpatrick,  2009)

A peculiar thing in this recession is that the jobless people are from different socio-economic levels. In spite of the fact that the U.S. is the strongest economy in the world, the number of unemployed people in the U.S. is very high. This is not because theyare not sufficiently educated, but there are simply not enough job opportunities for them. Concerning college-educated workers, their rate of unemployment is also on the rise. Coupled with this is the fact that they lose their jobs when their companies want to hire newly-educated workers who accept lower salaries than the older, experienced workers. In 1990s, the educated and older workers lost their jobs at a much higher rate during the recession than in the early 1980s. It shows the unemployment rate of educated workers is increasing more and more. Women, especially unmarried ones are finding it hard to get jobs nowadays. This is because, normally, unmarried women are younger than women who are already married. Accordingly, age is also one of the reasons of unemployment, and this affects people differently according to their socio-economic levels (Gilpatrick, 2009)

Constitution and Unemployment
The US constitution provides that a worker who is fired through no fault of their own be given financial compensation until they get another job, or for a reasonable period of time. This compensation is controlled by both the federal and the state law. This scheme was established by the Social Security Act 1935, and is mostly carried out through the Federal Unemployment Tax Act. Different states have their unique operate compensation schemes. It is however, mandatory for these schemes to be inspected by the Secretary of Labor to determine if they meet the federal standards. The amount and period of time for which the compensation is paid is determined by both federal and state governments. The compensation program is sustained by taxes paid by the workers to the  state and federal governments. The Labor law that regulates employeremployee bargaining was enacted in 1935 by Congress. It was amended in 1947 and also later in 1959. On March 3, 2010, the US passed a bill granting 10 billion as an emergence measure to extend unemployment benefits. Plans are underway to set aside 150 billion for a long term extension of the benefits. The 10th Amendment Nullification bill gives the states power to overrule the federal laws that they find unsuitable to them. It therefore means that the issue of unemployment rests more heavily on the states than on the federal government. This is evident in the case of the Stimulus Bill when states declared the federal legislature unconstitutional.

Solving the Problem of Unemployment
An important fact is that the government does not create private sector jobs it is the private sector that does it. The role of the government is to enact laws that create a conducive environment for investment and hence job creation. In order to create more jobs in the private sector, the following measures can be taken

All funding of projects both by the federal government and the states be based on results. This will ensure that revenue collected as taxes is not thrown away into non performing projects.
State and Federal projects be inspected by state legislature and Congress in order to halt those that fail to meet their objectives.

Remove economic growth barriers like taxes and red tape.
Refund all unspent taxes.
Unemployment is the situation where a person who is willing and is capable to work fails to get a job. One way to reduce the number of unemployed people is by reducing the number of people looking for work. If there are few people looking for work, then securing employment would be easy. This can be done by         
        
Availing loans to students in colleges to pursue masters, doctorate and higher degrees in order to lengthen their stay in the colleges, thereby delaying their entry into the workforce pool. These loans can be non-interest in order to make them appealing to the beneficiaries and be funded by the government. This would be a better investment than pumping money into unemployment benefit compensation programs. This would make the population of the campuses to rise hence requiring more houses around them. In constructing these houses, more job opportunities would be created.
Another strategy that can keep young people from joining the workforce pool is by providing an incentive for the youth to enroll with the army forces. This would have a two sided advantage increasing the size of the U.S. army and also keeping young people from becoming unemployed.
Reducing the number of working people would also leave vacancies which would be filled by unemployed people. This can be achieved if the government came up with a plan to encourage workers to retire two or three years earlier than what is stipulated by the social security. If those who accept to retire early could be given a cash price together with an arrangement that would ensure that they dont lose their social security retirement benefits, I believe that many workers, especially those who are about to retire would take the offer.

Conclusion
In conclusion, I would like to point out that although there are many suggestions today on how to handle the current unemployment crises in the U.S, federal and state legislature need to look into the problem in a view to get long term solutions. Unemployment benefit compensation can not be considered a long term solution (Gallick, Robert , 2001)