Social Issue in Human Services
Abstract
This paper discusses social issues that are affecting society. It discusses unemployment as one of the social issues addressed in human service. The paper defines Unemployment as a situation where individuals are seeking jobs, but they cannot find a job. Unemployment can be further explained as a condition of people in the workforce or pool of people available for work that has an inappropriate job. Consequently, it outlines groups in society that are affected by this social issue of unemployment. The paper concludes by highlighting strategies that have been used by human service to address the problem of unemployment. The department of human service, since it was developed in 1930, it has implemented many strategies that have helped reduce unemployment issues.
Social Issue in Human Services
Unemployment
Unemployment refers to a situation where individuals seek jobs, but they are unable to find a job. Unemployment can be further explained as a condition of people in the workforce or pool of people available for work that has an inappropriate job. The possible unemployment roots include a mismatch in demand and supply of labor, poor education or lack of required skills, and slow economic growth. Sometimes the condition can be tricky and more confusing when individuals waiting to return to the job after being discharged are certainly included (Bland & McQueen,2018). The issue of unemployment has become a major problem that is bedeviling youths worldwide, thus increasing crime rates, violence, and other social delinquent behaviors. During the long run of unemployment, individuals lose their skills, which may cause a loss of human capital. When the rate of unemployment is great other social problems such as crimes arise. This is because when people have fewer disposal incomes, they tend to engage themselves in criminal activities. These social problems are what disrupts and damages society.
For instance, in the United States, unemployment has impacted the youths, migrants, women, and black people for the last decades. In employment, age plays a significant role. Young individuals in the age bracket of 18-30 years have fewer chances to get jobs than individuals who have 45-60 years (Sargeant, 2016). Age comes with expertise, experience, job maturity, and stability. The rate of unemployment among the youths stands out to be high. Most young job seekers are individuals who finished schools recently, and therefore they do not have the experience, which minimizes their chances of getting employed. Also, students are graduating from schools now and then, which leads to a mismatch in demand and supply of labor. Youths have harder times to find jobs that experienced workers. The other group of unemployed individuals is immigrants. According to the research, immigrants fare better when it comes to unemployment than native-born Americans (Kenney & Zysman,2019). Many organizations firstly consider the country of origin when offering jobs. Even though immigrants have a good reputation for being hardworking are still discriminated against in job recruitment and employment. This scenario disadvantages immigrants’ individuals, thus rendering them jobless.
Another group in society that experiences unemployment problem is based on gender. Men have a high chance of getting employed as compared to women. According to statistics, women face employment discrimination. When men and women turn to job applications or interviews, men have higher chances of being recruited even when they hold similar skills and expertise. This is because men are termed to be more susceptible to economic downturns than women. The final group that is largely impacted by unemployment is race. Studies have shown that African Americans experience employment discrimination in the United States that renders many jobless (Bland & McQueen,2018). Black race in the United States society has a higher likelihood to grow poor. They have limited opportunities that sometimes overt prejudice, and other times the legacies of preceding racial discrimination. This kind of discrimination exposes the minority races to the danger of being unemployed as they reduce their chances of getting a job as compared to whites.
The department of human service, since it was developed in 1930, it has implemented many strategies that have helped reduce unemployment issues. In 1929 the American stock market crashed factor that led to the great depression (Bland & McQueen,2018). With many people being jobless due to economic depression, the need for human service expansion was evident. Millions of people were unemployed, and thus the relationship between human problems and the environment could not have been made clear. In collaboration with the federal government, they aided programs that attempted to make work available, and people with job incapability were also assisted. The implemented programs were work progress administration, a program to provide jobs, and civilian conservation corps that provided employees (Costakis et al.,2020). This human service strategy provided social protection and insurance for the individual against the volatile economy. The approach helped in alleviating social problems and protecting future generations against the same issue.
Another important trend in the human service field to reduce unemployment has been an increased emphasis on advocacy. This approach has increased the need for human service workers to cultivate proficiency in the use of activism. The human service profession has continued to evolve, thus expanding the needs of maximizing competence. Many human service organizations like the council for Standards in Human Service Education and National Organization for Human Service Education have worked toward competency, among other goals (Costakis et al., 2020). These other goals include the practice of ethical standards, skill standards, and programs to train workers. Human service has historically been focused on clients’ population needs for social services such as financial support, housing, and food. The latitude of human service has extended beyond the provision of basic needs. The human service trends have influenced employers in the United States to extend that they recognize workers who are experiencing psychological problems of different ethnicities, ages, and gender. Organizations are now encouraging their workers to seek help and responses by creating employee assistance to reduce the unemployment crisis. Human service workers now have more chances to get employment. The human service approaches are continuing to dominate the workforce and have reduced unemployment for the past decades.
In conclusion, unemployment as a social issue has affected society hugely. Since the development of human service, many of these issues have been reduced. However, more approaches need to be employed to alleviate this social issue.
References
Kenney, M., & Zysman, J. (2019). Work and value creation in the platform economy. In Work and Labor in the Digital Age. Emerald Publishing Limited.
Bland, A. M., & McQueen, K. S. (2018). Unemployment and Marital Quality in Great Recession America: An Exploratory Canonical Correlation Analysis. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 0022167818779964.
Costakis, H. R., Gruhlke, H., & Su, Y. (2020). Implications of Emotional Labor on Work Outcomes of Service Workers in Not-for-Profit Human Service Organizations. Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership & Governance, 1-20.
Sargeant, M. (2016). Age discrimination in employment. CRC Press.