narrative essay unemployment

Essays About Unemployment: Top 6 Examples and 5 Prompts

Read our guide to see helpful essay examples and prompts to further your understanding and write essays about unemployment.

Unemployment is an unfortunate circumstance many find themselves in; it is a challenge that civilized society faces today. When people are unemployed, they look for jobs but cannot get them. As a result, they are left without a source of income and cannot adequately provide for themselves and their families. This, in turn, can lead to various issues, including depression.

Unemployment is a social, economic, and political issue. It leaves many people in poverty and prevents people from obtaining a source of income. As a result, politicians capture the eyes of voters by promising to lower the unemployment rate to get elected. 

You can get started by reading these essay examples if you are writing essays about unemployment.

6 Examples of Essays About Unemployment

1. unemployment reflection by christopher haynes, 2. what i learned from nearly a year of unemployment by becca slaughter, 3. why aren’t europe and canada in the same boat as u.s. for unemployment by glen hendrix, 4. a global dilemma: how unemployment creates poverty by tess hinteregger, 5. why has covid-19 been especially harmful for working women by nicole bateman and martha ross, 6. youth day and ordeal of nigerian youth by utomi jerome-mario, essay prompts about unemployment, 1. unemployment during the covid-19 pandemic, 2. the connection between unemployment and crime, 3. unemployment: whose fault is it, 4. the causes of unemployment, 5. the effects of unemployment.

“In order to secure work, we must be prepared to change or upgrade our skills and be willing to relocate if necessary. But some people are not interested in retraining to find work in another field, some people do not have the confidence to go out and look for work, and some refuse to accept a job they feel is below their level. Unless people like this change their attitudes, they will not be able to find work.”

Haynes provides two perspectives on unemployment; first, that the government should do more to address it, and second, that if people want work, they must adjust to make a living. He believes that many are unemployed because they are unwilling to change their skillset or relocate to get a job. Therefore, more should be done to reduce unemployment, but it goes both ways; everyone must put in the effort.  

“I remember feeling embarrassed and powerless. I was angry it wasn’t my decision. I was happy I didn’t have to go back there, yet I was stressed about not having anywhere to go. Ultimately, I felt an overwhelming sadness that left me terrified. While I was overflowing with confusing and contradicting emotions, I somehow felt empty.”

In her essay, Slaughter reflects on her unemployed time and how it changed her. Her previous job was long and stressful, but whenever someone would ask her what she did for a living, she was embarrassed and regretful for not being there anymore. In addition to losing her job, she feels like she lost a part of herself at that time. Thankfully, she got a new job, one less taxing than her previous one. 

“You would think paying all that money year after year to a government whose purpose is to “establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity” would entitle that person to a modicum of “blessings” to insure his “tranquility” and “general welfare” in case of some stupid virus pandemic. It would certainly be the “just” thing to do. And that person’s “posterity” might look a bit less bleak. European governments and Canada did just that. And it’s not even explicitly stated in the preamble to their constitution.”

Hendrix criticizes the United States’ response to the unemployment problem caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that Canada and European nations have done a much better job. He discusses how much better their unemployment benefit system is compared to the U.S. and how it is ironic that the United States, whose constitution says all of these things promoting justice and wellbeing, cannot provide that for its citizens during a global pandemic. 

“While unemployment can create poverty, poverty also reduces the chance of being employed. To ensure that those who are affected by unemployment do not fall into the negative cycle, researchers believe that governments should focus on improving quality education and training all young people so they remain in school.”

Hinteregger, in her essay, explains the link between unemployment and poverty, writing that it leads to the loss of income. People will also have to raise their families in poverty, which perpetuates the cycle of poverty. In addition, the poor may resort to violence to make a living. She points out the sheer irony of this issue, as unemployment causes poverty while poverty may also reduce the chance of being employed. 

“COVID-19 is hard on women because the U.S. economy is hard on women, and this virus excels at taking existing tensions and ratcheting them up. Millions of women were already supporting themselves and their families on meager wages before coronavirus-mitigation lockdowns sent unemployment rates skyrocketing and millions of jobs disappeared. And working mothers were already shouldering the majority of family caregiving responsibilities in the face of a childcare system that is wholly inadequate for a society in which most parents work outside the home.”

Bateman and Ross write about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on women. Many women are forced to go through so much to provide for their families; however, the lockdowns led to many of them losing their jobs. The unemployment rate for women rose dramatically, by 12 percent, from February to April of 2020. It has been difficult for them to balance work with taking care of their families, women’s primary role as dictated by society. 

“Youth unemployment is potentially dangerous as it sends a signal to all segments of the Nigerian Society. Here in Nigeria, the rate of youth unemployment is high, even at the period of economic normalcy i.e. the oil boom of the 1970s (6.2 per cent); 1980s (9.8 per cent) and the 1990s (11.5 per cent). Youth unemployment therefore is not a recent phenomenon. But if what happened in the 1980s/90s were a challenge of sorts, what is happening presently, going by the latest report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), is a challenge.”

Jerome-Mario’s essay focuses on several issues affecting the Nigerian youth, including unemployment. The country has a high unemployment rate; over a fourth of the youth population is unemployed. He stresses the importance of the youth using their voice to make a change and to persuade the government to care for its citizens more. 

The pandemic and its lockdown policies have undoubtedly caused many people to lose jobs. Look into the impact of COVID-19 on the unemployment rate, particularly during the early months of the pandemic. Which sectors were most affected? Pull data and statistics to show how the public was affected by the covid-19 pandemic in terms of unemployment.

Many say that unemployment leads to higher crime rates. Do you believe this is true? Research how unemployment is linked to crime; examine the effects of unemployment on mental health; and conclude whether this may contribute to the increased likelihood of committing a crime. 

In Haynes’ essay, he claims that employers/the government, and workers are to blame for unemployment. After reading his essay and both arguments, who do you believe is at fault? Explain your response in detail, and make sure to provide a solid base of evidence.

Unemployment has many contributing causes. Assuming a non-pandemic setting, research what causes unemployment and list them down in your essay. Elaborate on each one and, if you can draw connections, explain them as well. 

As a grave issue, unemployment has many severe effects, notably poverty. For your essay, write about the effects of unemployment on a person, both physical and mental. How are they connected? What secondary effects might they produce? For a compelling and argumentative essay, answer these questions using research material and interview data.

For help with this topic, read our guide explaining what is persuasive writing ?If you are interested in learning more, check out our essay writing tips !

Martin is an avid writer specializing in editing and proofreading. He also enjoys literary analysis and writing about food and travel.

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Unemployment Essay Writing Guide

Academic writing

Essay paper writing

Employment is one of the major forces that bring on the economic growth of each country. In addition, unemployment rates can show how economic state of a country changes with time. That is why, it is crucially important to study the causes and effects of unemployment on the economy, social issues, and the life of every individual. Every student can do that by working on a research paper or essay about unemployment.

Luckily, you have come across this article, in which we collected the tips and ideas on how to write the best essay or research paper on unemployment. Stay tuned and read on to know all the intricacies of writing the best academic paper on this topic from scratch, even if you know little or nothing in this field. 

Purpose of writing an unemployment research paper

Let’s start with a discussion on how to write a research paper. Conducting unemployment research, you are encouraged to explore and identify issues that arise when willing workers can’t find a well-paid job or lose jobs as a result of their employers’ inability to maintain the growing rate of production.

Of course, this process affects the economy in general as well as the lives of each and every one of us. Having said that, when you look at this problem analytically and study it from different points of view, using recent data, it allows you to either find solutions to it or encourage other students, activists, or even scholars to further this research and propose their solutions.

Unemployment research paper topics

Here are some interesting research topics on unemployment for your consideration: 

• Karl Marx’s theory of unemployment
• To what extent can automation be helpful or harmful in the workforce?
• What are the long-term consequences of unemployment?
• What is a link between inflation and unemployment?
• Why is unemployment particularly bad for women?
• How does the unemployment rate affect the phycological state of people?
• Unemployment during the Big Depression
• Unemployment rate during COVID-19 pandemics
• Automation of labor and unemployment
• The effects of unemployment on students
• The unemployment rate in the country of choice
• Which population is the most vulnerable to unemployment?
• The link between unemployment and crime rate
• Ways of reducing unemployment

Unemployment research questions

When you have chosen the topic, it is important to formulate a few unemployment research questions and choose one or a few that you are going to focus on in your work. If your topic is broad, narrow it down to something more specific that you would be able to cover within the given word count. Make sure it is not too narrow to be researchable but specific enough for you to understand what kind of information to look for specifically.

The questions you formulate can be focused on the:

• Comparison between certain aspects of unemployment.
• Relationships between variables of your choice.
• Advantages/disadvantages of certain aspects.
• Causal relationships between specific variables.
• Factors contributing to the problem or its solution.

There are a lot of ways to formulate a research question for an unemployment paper, and we suggest that you run the question of your choice by your professor before starting to write.

Unemployment research paper outline

While your outline should include as many details as possible, the main sections it will cover are:

• Introduction
• Introductory phrase
• Background information
• Statement of hypothesis/thesis statement
• Body sections:
• Literature review
• Methodology
• Restated hypothesis/thesis
• Main points of research.
• Further application/Significance of research.

Tips for writing an essay on unemployment

Writing an academic essay on unemployment might appear like quite a difficult task. In order to make your life easier, we have decided to provide with the best writing tips:

• Choose the topic which you are genuinely interested in. This way, the writing process will be exciting and productive.
• Make an outline. This is an essential part of employment essay writing, which helps you to keep your ideas in order and write a well-structured text.
• Write the first draft. It will help you understand how to present your arguments and evidence as well as frame your essay.
• Look for well-written examples. There are a lot of sample essays on unemployment on the Web. Therefore, if you are not sure what to focus yours on or how to put your ideas on paper, reading a few examples might help.
• Proofread your essay. It’s a good idea to revise your paper the next day after you finish writing it. This way, you will notice more grammatical errors and common structural and stylistic mistakes.

Topics for writing an essay on unemployment

• Essay on educated unemployment
• Essay on unemployment among graduates
• Essay on unemployment and poverty
• Essay on rural unemployment
• Essay on the evils of unemployment
• Essay on poverty, illiteracy, and unemployment
• Essay on poverty and unemployment in specific countries/states
• Essay on unemployment and underemployment after wars
• Essay on effects of unemployment (psychological, sociological, financial, etc.)
• Causes of unemployment essay
• Essay on reasons for unemployment
• Essay on the impact of unemployment
• Causes and effects of unemployment essay
• Cause and effect of unemployment essay: is there a link between low quality education and unemployment?
• Argumentative essay on unemployment: should government help the vulnerable population with job search?
• Cause and effect essay on unemployment and inflation
• Unemployment problem solution essay
• Essay on employment and unemployment
• Essay on unemployment in America
• Essay on unemployment and its long-term effects

Unemployment essay outline

Whether you are writing a one-page essay on unemployment or a longer well-researched one at the end of the semester, making an outline is an important step you should never skip. Just like with a research paper, an unemployment essay outline also has a specific structure:

• Unemployment essay introduction. For starters, you need to provide readers with background on the topic and some justifications as to why you have chosen it. At the end of the intro, present your thesis statement with the main points that you will be discussing in more detail further.
• Body paragraphs. The main part is the most extended and informative section of the whole essay. It usually consists of 3-5 paragraphs (however, there can be more or less, depending on the specific requirements). Each paragraph has to include the argument connected with your thesis statement, which is reinforced with evidence and examples. Make sure that your body paragraphs are logically interconnected. In this case, transition words will be of great help.
• Conclusion for an essay on unemployment. At the final stage, here comes the time to briefly remind the readers about all the arguments discussed throughout the essay and the thesis statement that you have put forward in the intro. Don’t make new points in a conclusion for an unemployment essay. This is the part where you reflect on what was written without adding factual or statistical info to continue the discussion. In the final sentences of the unemployment essay conclusion, try coming up with a catchy phrase to wrap up everything that you have showcased before effectively and to encourage your readers for further reflections. 

Statistics for your essay on unemployment

We have collected some interesting and somehow shocking statistics, which you can use in your unemployment essay or research paper:

• Developed countries often cannot offer permanent positions for an excessive number of college graduates, both local residents and international students. This problem creates enormous competition for permanent positions in their chosen fields of study. One great example of such a situation is the US economic recession of 2007-2008 when the employment rate of candidates with bachelor's degrees suddenly dropped to as low as 9%.
• One of the recent American surveys showed that some of the highest unemployment rates were among Philosophy (6.2%) as well as the English Language (6.4%) and Mass Media (7.4%) graduates. On the other hand, the lowest unemployment rates were fixed in the fields of Industrial Engineering (1.7%) and Medical Technicians (0.9%).
• Youth are approximately three times more likely to be unemployed than adults (2.7).
• Among all developing regions, East Asia has the largest unemployment rate.
• The number of unemployed workers in the world’s developing economies is roughly the same as the population of Bangladesh (156.6 million), the world’s eighth-most populous country.
• Despite COVID-19 pandemics, the US unemployment rate has fallen to 7.9% (from 8.4%). The most prosperous are the restaurant, retail, and healthcare sectors.

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Unemployment - List of Essay Samples And Topic Ideas

Unemployment refers to the state of being without a paid job while being available and seeking work. Essays on this topic could explore the causes and consequences of unemployment on both individuals and broader economies. Discussions might also address the various types of unemployment, the role of government policy in mitigating unemployment rates, and the psychological and social impacts of unemployment on individuals and communities. We have collected a large number of free essay examples about Unemployment you can find at Papersowl. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

Unemployment a Major Cause of Homelessness

Homelessness or known as extreme poverty can be interpreted as a circumstance when people have no place to stay with the result that they end up live in the street, under the bridge even at the side of the river. There are 3.5 million Americans are homeless each year. Of these, more than 1 million are children and on any given night, more than 300,000 children are homeless. They who do not have an occupation are the one that is […]

Youth Unemployment

Exploring factors hindering the implementation of youth development package in addressing youth unemployment:) CHAPTER ONE 1. Introduction 1.1. Background of the study The reason for investing in young people is clear. Today, 1.2 billion adolescents stand at the challenging crossroads between childhood and the adult world (UNICEF, 2011). Youths represent 25 per cent of the working age population and account for 47 per cent (88 million) of the world’s unemployed people. An estimated 515 million young people, nearly 45 per […]

Pros and Cons of Increasing the Minimum Wage

Introduction The minimum wage is the lowest reasonable price that an employer is legally obliged to compensate for work, not including collective agreements and custom employee contracts. The federal and state governments are responsible for setting their minimum wage policies, which may differ. The aspect of wages is a grave concern in the modern world due to the discussion among economic experts, whose opinions differ on whether it should increase or stay stagnant (Kops, 2017). The increase in the minimum […]

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Unemployment and Minimum Wage in the US

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View of Students about Unemployment

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The Aftermath and Effects of World War II on the United States

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How does the Unemployment Rate Effect the Economy?

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Examining GDP and Unemployment

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The Negative Effects of Increasing Minimum Wage

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Unemployment in the Country

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Unemployment in the U.S

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Increasing Minimum Wage for the Economy

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GDP and Unemployment

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Long-term Unemployment

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Unemployment in Zimbabwe

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Effects of Minimum Wage Increase on Poverty Rates

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Discussion of Government and Unemployment Insurance

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Unemployment as a Social Issue

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Tackling Unemployment

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Unemployment Analysis

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Unemployment Rate and Urbanization

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Post-World War II America

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Minimum Wage and its Impact

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The Minimum Wage Must be Raised

Ellie Barraclough Mrs. Miles ENGL 201 16 Nov 2018 The Minimum Wage Must Be Raised As of July 2009, the federal minimum wage has been $7.25, which is far too low to make a living. The minimum wage must be increased for the betterment of our country. In 2016, 701,000 workers above 16 were paid the minimum wage (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Raising the minimum wage will have an increase in employment, a decrease in poverty, allow people to afford […]

Human Resource Basics

Unemployment is one of the hot issues which gets ubiquitous in the present still-sluggish economic world. In the news, issues to do with employment appears upon the silver screen. Companies tend to fire its employees for different reasons (Musella, 2018). In the actual sense terminating the firing of an employee has got its consequences if the right method is not used. Though "employment-at-will" technique offers employers the right to terminate the employees at their disposal on discretion, it cannot be […]

Automation Will Crash Democracy

Around the world, technology is constantly disrupting the workforce, with automation poised to displace humans in the fields of medicine, agriculture, and beyond. Will the rise of robots fuel a new wave of “us versus them” populism capable of undermining democracy? For some, the answer is yes. They argue that as people lose jobs to robots, the gap between the rich and poor widens, distrust in government and democratic institutions grows, and populist ideas become more attractive to those who […]

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Essay About Unemployment Unemployment and crime are the two major issues faced by many societies. These issues have prompted highly debated views on whether there is a correlation between the two. This essay will review on several sources and their research on the topic of Unemployment and Crime. It has been highly discussed that unemployment does lead to crime. In his journal article, Baron (2008) examined the role of unemployment in the criminal behaviour of 400 homeless street youths by adopting Agnew’s general strain theory (ICT). He wanted to find out if the people’s interpretations of their labour market situation had a role to play in influencing criminal behaviour. By using the general strain theory, it “focuses attention on how objective experiences, subjective interpretations, and emotional reactions can all be linked to crime” (Baron, 2008 p. 402). His findings have shown that negative emotional reactions such as anger is a mediating role between unemployment and crime and that it is anger over unemployment that influences crime. However, his research had limitations as the data collected were cross-sectional and thus causing the current emotional reactions, perceptions of deprivation, and punishment to be correlated with past criminal behaviour. Carlson and Michalowski (1997) also suggest that the relationship between unemployment and crime is shaped not merely by the fact of unemployment but instead by its social meaning within the developmental stage of social structures of crime. In this journal article, Carlson and Michalowski (1997) analysed whether the inconsistency in findings of the impact of unemployment on crime is the result of historical contingency caused by changes in the social structures of accumulation (SSAs) correlated with the growth of U.S capitalism in the twentieth century. By examining the relationship between unemployment and crime at different phases of the U.S economic development, Carlson and Michalowski (1997) found that the impact of unemployment on crime is in fact historically contingent and that there was a greater impact in reducing crime when economic distress is better relieved by having structural unemployment. This journal however had a specific focus on crimes such as burglary, robbery, assault and homicide. It did not consider other forms of crime that could possibly steer its findings in a different direction. Supplementary to the relationship between unemployment and crime, Chappell and Sykes (1991) examined the changing commitment rates to U.S. state prisons to resolve the questionable interpretations of how unemployment, crime and imprisonment are related.  

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• Unemployment

Essays on Unemployment

Unemployment is one of the main social-economic problems in the world, making unemployment essay writing an important task to help understand unemployment and its consequences. The unemployment rate in the country influences the level of crime, people’s living conditions, the availability of skilled labor force, emigration, etc. The task of the government is to keep the unemployment rate low. This is achieved by taking various measures: creating new jobs, updating the education system to meet modern labor market conditions, creating favorable conditions for the development of small and medium-sized businesses, etc. – people explore various possible measures in their unemployment essays. We compiled some great unemployment essay samples for you to check out if you're having trouble with your essay. Reading samples of other people’s essays on unemployment is an efficient way to study the subject through other people’s opinions.

The Sociological Perspective The sociological perspective looks at the issues which affect the society and looks at the assumptions and beliefs underlying a social problem. The public issues affect the entire society or a large group of people depending on the patterns and behavior of the society. The social construction and...

Words: 1158

What I found most interesting in the article by Ronald Alsop are the reasons why most university graduates are unable to secure meaningful employment. Some of these interesting yet compelling reasons include the fact that most employers expect all job applicants to bring a mid-level professional work experience as well...

Types of Unemployment There are many types of unemployment, one of them is clinical employment is where individuals lose their jobs as a result of the decrease in demand. There is also demand deficient unemployment, which is caused by insufficient demand, which could generate the required level of employment in a...

Unemployment Unemployment is a situation whereby aspects of manufacture are willing and are capable of being hired at the governing market wage rates but are compulsorily unutilized or underutilized.\u00a0 \u00a0The number of unemployed individuals will depend on the price of expansion of work opportunities which in turn depends on the level...

Unemployment in the Philippines Unemployment is a major issue that influences a nation's politics. The statement about unemployment in the Philippines attracts many political views. The unemployment rate in the Philippines is high because of the unavailability of jobs to be offered to people. The growth of unemployment rate in the...

Employment and unemployment are very critical economic indicators. Therefore, it’s crucial to understand how the figures for unemployment are obtained and assessed. Thus, there is need to figure out which people are termed as unemployed. In the UK the ONS quotes the unemployment figures after every three months which is...

Words: 1683

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Unemployment entails a situation whereby a section of people in an economy’s work force who have the capacity and the will to work but they lack jobs. It is expressed as a percentage of an entire work force. It is calculated as a ratio of the number of unemployed people...

Words: 2245

A sociological perspective of social problems A social problem is a condition that is deemed to have negative effects on individuals and the social world. Sociologists have used various theories to come up with a sociological perspective of social problems including unemployment (Loseke, 2017). This paper will explore the theory of...

Unemployment and its Effects on Society Unemployment represents a situation where an individual is willing to work but has none. Unemployment has many effects on the society. These impacts can be mental, physical, and economic. Unemployed people usually tend to have less money to spend and are unable to buy some...

Words: 1767

Being in a condition of scarcity, or not having enough possessions, is what is meant by the complex concept of poverty. Most often, poverty in a particular area is defined as a condition in which people make less than $2 per day. For instance, the Census Bureau's 2017 estimates for...

Words: 1165

US Weekly Jobless Claims According to a CNBC story, the US weekly jobless claims were 232,000, compared to 240,000 predictions (CNBC, 2017). This study implies that the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits has decreased in six months, and the data further demonstrate the tightening in the labor market, prompting...

Every month, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates the unemployment rate in the United States. The Bureau of Labor Statistics used data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census's Current Population Survey (CPS), which covers 60,000 members of the civilian population over the age of 16. (Marthinsen 73). The unemployment...

Related topic to Unemployment

Unemployment Essay

Introduction.

Unemployment can be defined as the condition where citizens of a country are jobless and have in the recent past been involved in searching work without a success. Unemployment rate can be defined as the prevalence of unemployment opportunities in a country. The unemployment index is calculated by dividing the number of unemployed individuals by the number of individuals in the labour force (Arestis & John 15).

I have chosen the unemployment situation because of the increasing and prevalent unemployment rates in various countries.

Recent statistics indicate that, the rate of unemployment is on the increase and there is a lot of information to cover the complex area of unemployment. There are various reasons which cause unemployment in a country. The following are some of the reasons that cause unemployment rate in a country (Arestis & John 20).

• Advances in new technologies. New technologies to a large extent replace the human labour force which renders most human beings as unemployed.
• Population increase. The level of unemployment is believed to go up as population in a country increases. Increase in population leads to an increased pressure on the available resources. These limited resources are few and cannot accommodate the increasing demands of the population
• National policies. Some countries have stringent national policies that favour the increase in the unemployment levels in a country. These national policies will always restrict the participation of certain gender groups in specific employment sectors. For example, some countries restricts the participation of women in many employment sectors especially the building, and construction sector.
• Political environments also play a major role towards increasing the rate of unemployment. Political environments that increase the rate of unemployment are quite dominant especially in the developing countries. Such environments will enhance political vices such as nepotism and corruption which undermines the possibility of having fair distribution of employment opportunities to citizens.
• Economic depression. Economic depression is a form of economic recession that is long-term which is characterized by a downturn in the various economic activities in a country.

In analyzing this complex situation of unemployment, it is of vital importance to consider the application of various system analyzing tools such as “tools, methods, methodology and many techniques”. This will make the analysis of the complex situation being analyzed to be understood easily.

In my research I will analyze the complex process of unemployment with the aim of creating a sustainable environment in the employment sector.

The research will encompass the various causes of unemployment rates, the challenges being encountered in the process of reducing unemployment rates. The research will critically analyze the various types of unemployment and, the mechanisms which can be adopted in order to reduce the prevalent rates of unemployment.

Unemployment is a complex problem facing many countries presently. The process of reducing unemployment rates can be a daunting process fraught with disappointments. As a summary of the major findings of the research, the major cause of unemployment is lack of information among citizens, and poor governance policies in a country (Arestis & John 30).

Various citizens are ignorant on how to effectively utilize the available natural and human resources to create employment. They lack a sense of creativity which could possibly create employment opportunities. Also, most citizens are ignorant on how to effectively participate in democratic governance process.

This ignorance eventually creates autocratic governance regimes which fosters nepotism and corruption. These political vices reduce the availability of employment opportunities in a country, leading to unemployment (Arestis & John 15).

One key requirement of a good system practitioner is the ability of the system practitioner to apply the various models, methods and theories of system practitioner into the real life.

My undertaking of this project will assist me to apply the various system practitioner concepts learnt in class to the real life complex scenario of unemployment (Jacques & Stephen, 1994, pg. 21). In analyzing the complexity associated with unemployment, I will consider the various theories of complex management which I will discuss along with the development of this paper.

Applying hard systems method

Before analyzing the complex process of unemployment, it is important to make a distinction between hard and soft systems. Hard systems can be defined as those problems that deal with the “how” questions. For example, the question of how to increase the rate of employment is an example of a hard problem.

A hard problem is always characterized by the fact that there is a distinct solution, and there are a number of defined goals that are well defined which should be accomplished. On the other hand, a soft system is a problem that encompasses both the “how” and “what” questions (Jacques & Stephen, 1994, pg. 27)

The complex process of unemployment could be well analyzed using the hard system method of approach. The hard system method tries to analyze a complex problem through many stages which will be discussed in this paper.

There are various advantages that are associated with the use of the hard system methodology of concept analysis. The following are some of the advantages of using the hard system method (Jacques & Stephen, 1994, pg. 35)

• It provides a deeper understanding and analysis of the problem of unemployment and answers the question of how to mitigate the unemployment problem.
• Hard system analysis provides answers to other complex problems related to unemployment like how to use technology to increase the rate of employment.

The following diagram indicates the application of hard system in the analysis of unemployment.

The above diagram indicates the various processes that will be undertaken in the analysis of the unemployment problem.

Stage 1. System description

System description will always indicate the current position and status of the problem being analyzed. Currently we are experiencing a high rate of unemployment which is characterized by the increasing population rate. The world population is estimated at 7 billion people.

The available limited employment resources are not sufficient to carter for the demands of the 7 billion individuals. This eventually piles up pressure on the resources that could be used to create employment opportunities, hence leading to an increased level of unemployment (Steger, Maznevski & Wolfgang 39).

The following table illustrates the world population by continent by 2011.

The alarming increase in the level of unemployment creates a need for analyzing the complex concept of unemployment with the aim of unmasking the strategies to be adopted in order to reduce unemployment rates (Arestis & John 55).

The following table indicates the world top ten countries by unemployment rate

The above data directly underpins the fact that unemployment is a complex prevalent issue. If much is not done to contain the issue, then, the issue will become out of control and cause adverse effects to the limited human, and natural resources available (Arestis & John 60).

Stage 2. Identification of constraints and objectives

The main objective of this sturdy is to identify the various causes of unemployment and any relevant measure that can be adopted to mitigate the problem of unemployment. Also, the sturdy is aimed at identifying the reasons as to why there is a huge gap between the unemployment rates in developed countries and the developing countries (Steger, Maznevski & Wolfgang 40).

The major projected constrain is the political environments and government policies and ideologies governing the utilization of resources, and the creation of employment opportunities.

Stage 3. Generation of routes to objectives

• Governments and relevant stakeholders should ensure that, there is gender equity and equality in the allocation of employment opportunities.
• Governments should adopt various strategies that will involve the citizens in the creation of employment opportunity for self-sustainability. A self-sustenance economy should be adopted which can be achieved through promotion of innovation and creativity.
• Removal of political and governance ideologies that promote nepotism, and corruption.
• Creation of public awareness and increased public participation in the governance process.

Stage 4. Formulating measures for performance

Measures of performance will measure to what extent has the research objectives been met. In order to measure the performance, the unemployment index will be recorded for the next five years after the activities stipulated in the routes to objectives have been undertaken.

The unemployment index obtained will then be compared to unemployment index done before undertaking this research. The comparison will give vital information as to whether there is been an improvement in the unemployment index after the adoption of the routes to objectives (Zimmer & Jake 44).

Stage 5. Modeling

The modeling process will involve those activities that are geared towards determining the outcomes of the research (Zimmer & Jake 51). In order to identify the outcomes, a survey will be carried out after every year for the next five years to find out the rate of unemployment.

This will be calculated by dividing the number of employed individuals by the number of unemployed individuals. The index obtained will then be compared in order to determine whether there is an improvement or a decline in the unemployment rate (Arestis & John 31).

Stage 6. Evaluation

The evaluation stage is the most important stage in the analysis of the complex issue. Evaluation will involve the analysis of the outcomes obtained from the modelling stage. The evaluation will involve the analysis of the disparities that will be recorded in the research.

This will involve the sturdy of what factors are causing the disparity and how to re-align and reconfigure the process routes in order to achieve the research objectives. Evaluation process might also include the prototyping technique where the routes are tested, and retested in order to determine their viability before being fully implemented (Zimmer & Jake 71).

Stage 7. Selecting the best routes to objectives

After the evaluation process, the best route towards achieving the objectives should be selected. The route chosen should ensure that the research objectives have been met to a large extent. In the analysis of unemployment, the best route that was identified was the creation of awareness and involving the individuals in the governance process (Steger, Maznevski & Wolfgang 59).

This route will increase the level of democracy in a country hence creating equal employment opportunities for both women and men. Also, creating public awareness will ensure that citizens are well equipped with knowledge of how to effective utilize resources and create employment opportunities.

Also, public participation in the governance process will ensure that the governance policies adopted foster democracy which is a key ingredient towards reducing the rate of unemployment (Arestis & John 75).

Stage 8. Implementation of the selected routes

The implementation process will involve the process of adopting and enrolling the best selected route. In the case of unemployment, the selected route of creating awareness and increasing public participation in the governance process will be adopted.

Creating awareness will involve conducting of seminars to enlighten the public on how to effectively use the available resources, and how to create employment opportunities through innovation (Steger, Maznevski & Wolfgang 69).

Public participation in the process of policy formulation will be achieved through promotion of civic education among citizens on how to carefully vote and chose leaders with integrity.

Also, the civic education will be aimed at increasing public participation in government related projects, and governance processes starting from the grassroots government structures. Also, the civic education will aim at educating citizens on how they can get access to public funds and amenities.

Stakeholders involved

Stakeholders can be described as those people who are in one way or the other affected by the problem of unemployment. Also, stakeholders in one way or the other affect the entire problem of unemployment. Stakeholders can negatively or positively be affected by the unemployment concept.

On the other hand, stakeholders can positively or negatively influence the prevalence of unemployment concept (Jacques & Stephen, 1994, pg. 75)

The following tables indicates a summary of the how stakeholders are affected/affect the unemployment concept

Ethicality statement

As a system practitioner I fully commit myself to the various ethical guidelines that should be followed whenever undertaking any research work. I will consider the following ethical consideration I my research undertaking:

• The data collected will be solely used for the purpose of the research, and no client data will be used for any other purposes not stipulated in the research.
• The clients will be fully informed on the purpose of the research, and the duration the research is going to take.
• The participation of subjects in the research will be voluntary, and out of consent. Where approval is required, then, the relevant approving bodies will be sought.

Conclusion and recommendations

In conclusion, it is evident from the research that unemployment is a complex issue that can be solved abstractly. With the increasing levels of unemployment, much has to be done in order to mitigate and reduce the rate of unemployment. This calls for public awareness, and participation in the entire process of creating employment. Such a complex issue should not be entrusted in the hands of greedy and selfish leaders.

Project log

The entire project will be spread over a period of six weeks with the first two weeks dealing with the preparation process and the last four weeks dealing with the data collection and analysis. The five weeks have been broken into three phases.

The following table indicates the project log phases.

Week 1 and week 2

During the first two weeks, I was involved in the process of consulting my colleagues and tutor to try and sought out their opinion about the topic. This gave a chance to discuss the various available methodologies that could be used in the sturdy. Also, this gave a chance to identify whether unemployment is a complex process or not.

Also, during the first week, I was able to undertake a literature review in order to determine what other researchers have done about the unemployment concept. The literature review sufficed me with relevant information about the unemployment concept.

Also, the information obtained was useful in avoiding mistakes done by previous researchers. The literature review involved researching the relevant literature materials like the internet, books, journals, and articles. I also obtained a chance of visiting various libraries in order to find out more information about the unemployment concept.

Week 3, 4 and 5

Most of the research work was conducted during the third, fourth and the fifth week. Various data was collected about the unemployment rate of individuals. Also, clients were required to fill in a survey form and a questionnaire in order to determine the causes of unemployment. Also, the subjects were required to give their individual opinions about what could be done in order to reduce the rate of unemployment.

Various data collections methods were employed in the process of data collection which includes the following methods; survey forms, questionnaires, and interviews.

Subjects were required to fill in questionnaires which sought to find out what were the causes of unemployment and what could be done to reduce the unemployment rates. Subjects were also required to fill in a survey form to determine whether the government is doing much to contain the problem of unemployment.

A series of interviews were also conducted with the aim of finding more first-hand information about the problem of unemployment. A total of three interviews were conducted during the entire period of the project. The following are the interviews that were conducted during the time of research.

The sixth week of the research was purely dedicated to data analysis and the sturdy of the findings. The data collected was analyzed and compared to previous data that was collected by other researchers on the same subject. The data analysis stage involved the application of the hard system on the complex process of unemployment. Various stages of the hard system methodology were studied in respect to unemployment.

Also, the compilation of the results obtained was done on the sixth week. This was the last week of the project undertaking, and due consultation was made to ensure that the project is up to date and with the relevant requirements.

I also, spent some time with my project supervisor in order to discuss the application of TMA in the complex process of unemployment. My supervisor advice helped a lot in the development of the project in the sense that, the information I was given largely assisted in the ensuring the realization of the research objectives.

Summary of the project log

In this section of the report, I will cover a brief summary of what I have been able to undertake during my six weeks of undertaking the project.

Undertaking the T306 course has largely helped build more on the concept that I learnt in my previous course, T205-An approach to system thinking. Managing complexity has equipped me with knowledge of how to apply various managing complexity theories, systems, and methodology in analyzing complex situations.

During the first five weeks of my project undertaking, I was extensively involved in the process of data collection and literature review. This introduced me to a number of literature and concept regarding the problem of unemployment. It also introduced me to a wide range of knowledge regarding data collection methods like interviews, questionnaires, and surveys.

The last week of the project was dedicated to data analysis. During this period of data analysis, various data analysis techniques were employed to analyze the data. This introduced me to a wide range of scientific data analysis methods of analyzing data.

Client report

The major client in the above research is the unemployed citizen or individual. They are the ones who are largely affected by the rising unemployment rate. Most of the unemployed individuals or citizens have the common ideology that it is the responsibility of government and private sectors to create employment.

Such an ideology is wrong because the process of creating employment opportunities is neither a government responsibility nor the responsibility of the private sector. It is a collective responsibility that has to be done by the collaboration of the citizens, the private sector, and the government.

There are various forms of employment that currently exists. One can be self employed which means that, they are their own employers. This form of employment fosters renovation and a spirit of entrepreneurship among citizens. This spirit eventually promotes innovation and creativity which eventually creates employment opportunities.

Also, citizens should be made to understand that, democracy plays a major role towards creation of employment opportunities. Democracy ensures accountability and transparency towards the use of resources, hence creating avenues for more employment opportunities. On the other hand, corruption, nepotism, and violence lead to misuse of resources which eventually blocks avenues for creating employment opportunities.

In order to reduce the adverse effects associated with unemployment, citizens should engage in innovation and creative activities. This will enhance the proper utilization of resources and eventually creating employment opportunities. One major desirable aspect of a good economy is the ability to be self sustainable.

A self sustainable economy will ensure that citizens have the services and products they require. One way of ensuring a self sustaining economy is by having citizens engage in innovative and creative activities. Such activities will lead to specialization, and creation of more job, and employment opportunities.

Works Cited

Arestis, Philip & McCombie, John. Unemployment: Past and Present . Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Print.

Jaques, Elliott, and Stephen, Clement. Executive Leadership: A Practical Guide to Managing Complexity . Malden, Mass: Blackwell, 1994. Print.

Steger, Ulrich & Maznevski, Martha & Wolfgang, Amann. Managing Complexity in Global Organizations . Chichester, West Sussex, England: John Wiley & Sons, 2007. Print.

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IvyPanda. (2024, February 27). Unemployment. https://ivypanda.com/essays/unemployment-essay/

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Bibliography

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Undoing the Stigma of Unemployment

W ith the looming 2024 elections in mind, one of the most discussed puzzles of our time is why Americans report feeling economically anxious despite a low unemployment rate, declining inflation, and other positive economic indicators. My research on American workers points to one of the root causes of this anxiety. It focuses on the kind of workers we might expect to have little to worry about—experienced, college-educated, white-collar professionals—including some with advanced degrees from elite universities like Harvard and MIT. Focusing on this group reveals that in the contemporary United States the careers of even the most privileged workers are anxiety-filled and precarious.

Regardless of prestigious degrees and impressive work experience, the careers of almost all American workers are made unpredictable by routine layoffs. It was not always like this. In the post-World War II era white-collar workers at large companies could reasonably expect to stay at one company for decades. But since the 1980s job security has crumbled, and currently about 3 out of 4 American workers become unemployed at some point in their career.

Yet, economic anxiety extends beyond mere layoffs. It is foremost rooted in the fear of not being able to bounce back after a layoff, and getting trapped in long-term unemployment or low-wage work. This fear is well-founded, even for experienced college-educated professionals. A 2013 study by the Economic Policy Institute reveals that if a college-educated worker becomes unemployed they are as likely as any other worker—of whatever level of education—to get trapped in long-term unemployment. Even after a prolonged search, many get stuck in low-wage jobs. Downward mobility does not show up in unemployment statistics, but it shatters lives.

American workers are anxious because anyone can fall. There are no reliable shields against an invisible but powerful force which can rapidly erase past educational and professional achievements: stigma. Once a worker becomes unemployed they are stigmatized in the eyes of potential employers. This can be clearly seen in studies where researchers send fake resumes to companies with real job openings. These resumes are identical in terms of skills and qualifications and differ only in whether or not the applicant has a current employment gap. From these studies, we know that employers are far less likely to invite unemployed applicants for job interviews.

Read More: The U.S. Spends Less Than Nearly Every Country on Unemployment. That’s Why People Can’t Get Jobs.

I interviewed recruiters to gain a better understanding of the unemployment stigma. After assuring them that they will remain anonymous, the recruiters openly discussed the widely shared assumptions of employers about unemployed applicants. One recruiter explained: “A company could lay off people for a wide variety of reasons. But there is that perception that very often those folks who have been laid off or out of work for any length of time are not going to be the top people out there.” In practice, this perception often translates to an employer preference for “passive jobseekers,” referring to workers currently working and not actively looking for work; or in other words, workers who are not unemployed. Here is how one recruiter succinctly summed up the widely shared sentiment underlying the preference for passive jobseekers: “The sense is that if someone is good, they would be working.” When reflecting on it, this recruiter acknowledged that “this logic is crap,” recalling his own experience: “I was a top-performer and the whole group was laid off.” But, nonetheless, even this recruiter who recognized employers’ flawed logic, felt compelled to follow the preference of his employer clients for passive jobseekers.

It is not only employers who stigmatize. As the unemployed workers I’ve interviewed in the course of my research repeatedly emphasized, they experienced the unemployment stigma in every realm of their life, including when trying to network with former colleagues, or even when turning to their spouses or close friends for support. 

The stigma of unemployment is everywhere because most of us want to believe in the myth of meritocracy—the false assumption that one’s position reflects one’s merit. The pull of this myth is evident whenever I share stories from my research. Take for example the story of Ron, one of the people I interviewed. Ron is a Harvard graduate who worked in finance for over three decades, most recently at a large and prestigious bank. After a layoff he spent three years unsuccessfully trying to get another job in banking. Today, Ron earns poverty-level wages at a department store.

When I share Ron’s story, I am inevitably asked for more details about his particular situation. A story like Ron’s is terrifying to all who hear it because if his career can go off a cliff, so can anyone’s. The thread connecting the various questions is the search for something faulty about Ron, which would reduce the anxiety of the person asking the questions about whether the same fate may await them. I am almost never asked about the hiring process or employer stigmas that may underlie Ron’s difficulties.

The questions’ focus on finding something faulty about Ron show how tenaciously we want to hold on to the belief in meritocratic predictability, that if you do the “right” things, study hard, go to a good college, and get a good job, you’ll do okay. But the dark flipside of this belief is the stigmatization of those who experience unemployment or downward mobility. Hanging on to this belief motivates us to find some reason why the unemployed are at fault for their unemployment, and hence we lead with skeptical questions—which mirror those of employers—about the talent or motivation of anyone who is out of work or has experienced downward mobility.

Ironically, while we cling to the myth of a predictable meritocracy as a way of coping with our anxiety, the myth leaves in place institutions and employer practices that guarantee our perpetual anxiety. The myth of meritocracy means that we judge and stigmatize each other, even our friends and loved ones, instead of providing empathetic support. It means that we blame individuals for what are societal shortcomings, and these shortcomings remain untouched. And ultimately, it means we remain trapped in an economic system in which we are all one layoff away from potential disaster. 

The way out of this trap is to confront it head on and shine a bright light on the assumption that unemployment necessarily reflects anything about the unemployed person as opposed to the economy, employers, and the hiring system. Until we do so, we will continue to experience perpetual economic anxiety, regardless of topline economic indicators.

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• Unemployment Essay

Essay on Unemployment

The three basic needs of human beings are - food, home and clothing. All these needs can be properly fulfilled only if a person has money. And to earn this money, the person must be employed, that is, he or she must have a paid occupation. However, there are many people in the world and our country too who have failed to secure a job. As a result, they have an insignificant source of income. This state of joblessness is called unemployment.

Why Unemployment is a Serious Issue?

To live a dignified life, people need to earn money and fulfil their basic needs. Unemployment snatches this right from them and their standard of life gets degraded. 

The lack of money due to unemployment leads to the lack of nutritious food. The health of the unemployed is bound to deteriorate. The children of unemployed people cannot get the proper diet. Hence, they suffer from various illnesses. Their quality of life reduces drastically over time.

An unemployed parent cannot give proper education to his child. As a result, the child too will not be able to get a good job once he grows up. Thus, unemployment breeds unemployment.

Unemployment and Social Instability

An unemployed person is open to doing socially unacceptable work to get money. Thus, very often in a society where there are a huge number of unemployed people, there will be a great proliferation of thieves, snatchers, bank-robbers and much more serious anti-social elements. 

Covid-19 & Unemployment in India and the World

In March 2020, India entered into lockdown to stop the spread of Coronavirus. While the lockdown was effective, hundreds of people got jobless because of the prolonged shutdown of the offices. The unemployment rate has climbed up to 27.1% in April. Sure, once the offices are opened, this rate will come down. However, this grim scenario will haunt us for at least one year.

The situation in other countries is the same. 30 million people in the US have filed unemployment claims. The unemployment rate, there, is 14.7%. In the UK the number of unemployment claims has shot up by 70%.

How Can We Come Out of The Muck?

1. Self-Dependence

As the Prime Minister of India proclaimed, the Indians need to be self-dependent. We need more vocational training. Gone are the days when being employed meant being an engineer or a doctor. A farmer is an employed person. He produces his food and that of the others. There is no shame in being a farmer. We have to stop depending on foreign countries for IT work - Let us open more startups. Why do we depend on China for Diwali firecrackers or Holi colors - We can make them ourselves. Self-help is the best help.

2. Shifting The Manufacturing To India

To create more jobs, India needs to make more manufacturing hubs in the country. Let us not just assemble the Smartphone parts, let us scour the mineral-rich country and take out silicon to make circuit boards.

3. Educating The Women 

There is a real connection between the lack of education and unemployment. To educate the children of the country, we first need to educate the women of the country. Only then can the children be educated properly.

4. Stopping Politics Based On Religion And Region

Stopping petty politics is the need of the hour. The politicians need to work in a concerted way to make Indians employed.

As Charlie Chaplin said, there is no glory in poverty. Let us not pride ourselves on being compromising. Let us remain hungry for a better life. Let’s get employed.

FAQs on Unemployment Essay

1. What are the types of unemployment prevalent in the world?

Unemployment is a serious issue across the globe and is of four major different types, that is, demand deficient unemployment, frictional unemployment, structural unemployment, and voluntary unemployment.

Demand deficient unemployment: it is the biggest form of unemployment occurring generally during a recession. A recession is a period when the demand for a certain product in the market decreases, and in reaction to that company reduces its production and cuts down on the workforce.

Frictional unemployment: it is a stage of unemployment where the worker by his own will is searching for a job that is more suitable for his/ her skills and also pays him equal to or more than what he was getting in his previous workplace.

Structural unemployment: In this particular unemployment, geographical location acts as a barrier or the skill set of a worker is not following the skills desired by the jobs available in the market.

Voluntary unemployment: this type of unemployment is by the will of the worker because the worker leaves his/ her job on his own because the pay he is getting is less than his cost of living.

2. What are the causes of unemployment?

Unemployment is a global concern across the globe. Unemployment can be due to any possible reason. Unemployment doesn’t need to be from the employer side only, it can even be from the demand side, that is the demand of the product is low, therefore production is reduced due to which the workforce is also cut down. Unemployment is also from the worker side, that is, the current job doesn't pay him well according to his skill set or the current job is not much of his desired skills. In both these cases, the worker himself leaves his job.

3. What is meant by long-term unemployment and short-term unemployment?

Long-term unemployment refers to the phase of unemployment that lasts for more than 27 weeks, that is 189 days. Short-term unemployment refers to a state where the individual is not unemployed for more than a month and gets a new job very quickly. Long-term unemployment is very dangerous as compared to short-term unemployment and has adverse effects on the economic condition of an individual because of obvious reasons. The main effects of long-term unemployment on an employee are:

There is a significant decrease in the net worth reported in almost 56% of the long-term unemployment cases.

Unemployment not only affects the financial status but family relations as well, 46% of the cases of unemployment experienced strained family relationships.

Unemployment also poses an adverse effect on the career growth of individuals. Almost 43% of the long-term unemployed have observed a drastic effect on their ability to achieve their desired career goals.

Apart from financial and effect on career, long-term unemployment also affects the self-respect of individuals that was reported among approximately 38% of cases of long-term unemployment. Out of these 38% cases, 24% cases required professional help to come back to normal.

4. What are the major reasons that cause unemployment?

Unemployment can persist in a country due to many different reasons. 

One of the main reasons for unemployment is population growth because an exponential increase in population has given rise to higher rates of unemployment. After all, the number of people looking for a job is increasing but the jobs available in the market are constant or are not increasing significantly as compared to the rate of population growth. 

Due to the rapid growth of technology on a global scale, most of the work that was done through human interference is now carried out through machines and technologies. The advancement in technology has completely replaced the unskilled and low-skilled labourers in factories and companies. All factories now prefer technology over labour simply because technologies are more accurate and fast. 

Lack of education and desired skills is another major cause of unemployment. Currently, with technologies driving the world, the demand for skilled and educated workers has increased and the employment opportunities for people without adequate education have decreased, raising the unemployment rate of the country. 

Also, the rising pay scale sometimes makes it difficult for companies to hire employees and pay them the optimum salary.

5. What are the initiatives taken by the government to deal with increasing rates of unemployment?

The government has taken the issue of unemployment very seriously. There are various programs, schemes, and initiatives taken by the government to deal with this situation efficiently. Some of the schemes started by the government to reduce unemployment are Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP), Drought Prone Area Program (DPAP), Employment Assurance Scheme, Jawahar Rozgar Yojna, Nehru Rozgar Yojna (NRY), Prime Minister’s Integrated Urban Poverty Eradication Program (PMIUPEP), Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojna, employment guarantee scheme, employment exchange, promoting small and cottage industries and development of the organized sector. There are many more schemes launched by the government apart from the ones mentioned here. Also, apart from schemes, the government has launched training for self-employment and skill India program, to help individuals learn skills which can help them in finding a satisfactory job for themselves and their families.

Unemployment Essay

500+ words essay on unemployment.

Unemployment is a serious problem among young people. There are thousands of people who do not have any work to do and cannot find work for themselves. Unemployment refers to the situation where a person wants to work but cannot find employment in the labour market. One of the major reasons that contribute to unemployment is the large population of India and the limited availability of resources. In this essay on unemployment, we will discuss all these issues responsible for unemployment in India and how we can overcome this problem. Students must go through this unemployment essay to get ideas on how to write an effective essay on the topic related to unemployment. Also, they can practice more CBSE essays on different topics to boost their writing skills.

Unemployment is measured by the unemployment rate, defined as the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labour force. The unemployment rate for the year 2013-14 in rural India was 4.7%, whereas it was 5.5% for urban India. In the short term, unemployment significantly reduces a person’s income and, in the long term, it reduces their ability to save for retirement and other goals. Unemployment is a loss of valuable productive resources to the economy. The impact of job loss in rural and regional areas flows through the local community, damaging businesses.

Reason for Unemployment

An unemployed person is one who is an active member of the labour force and is seeking work but is unable to find any work for himself. There are multiple reasons behind the unemployment of a person. One of them is the slow economic growth, due to which jobs in adequate numbers are not created. Excessive dependence on agriculture and slow growth of non-farm activities also limit employment generation. Unemployment in urban areas is mainly the result of substantial rural migration to urban areas. This has also resulted in a labour workforce in cities. The lack of technology and proper machinery has also contributed to unemployment.

The present educational system is based on theoretical knowledge instead of practical work. Thus, it lacks the development of aptitude and technical qualifications required for various types of work among job seekers. This has created a mismatch between the need and availability of relevant skills and training. This results in unemployment, especially among the youth and educated people with high degrees and qualifications. Apart from it, the lack of investment and infrastructure has led to inadequate employment opportunities in different sectors.

Steps to Eliminate Unemployment

Various strategies and proposals have been implemented to generate employment. Many Employment programmes and policies have been introduced and undertaken to boost self-employment and help unemployed people engage in public works. The Government of India has taken several policy measures to fight the problem of unemployment. Some of the measures are the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), National Skill Development Mission, Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY), Regional Rural Banks (RRBs).

Despite the measures taken by the government, India remains a country experiencing severe unemployment problems. It can be resolved by imparting education in such a way that youth get the necessary skills so as to get employment easily. Setting up various vocational training and vocational courses for undergraduate and postgraduate students will help in finding employment for youth. The government needs to emphasise these courses at the primary level and make them a compulsory part of the curriculum to make students proficient in their early stages of life. Career counselling should be provided within schools and colleges so that students can choose a better career option based on their interests and ability. Government should create more job opportunities for the youth and graduates.

India is a fast-growing economy. There is an enormous scope for improvement in the unemployment sector. The various measures and steps taken by the government to increase the employment rate have succeeded to a great extent. The widespread skill development programmes have gained popularity across the nation. With better enforcement of the strategies, the employment level can be significantly improved. Although, we have to go a long way before we can say that all the people in India will get employment.

We hope this essay on unemployment must have helped students in boosting their essay-writing skills. Keep learning and visiting the BYJU’S website for more study material.

Frequently Asked Questions on Unemployment Essay

Is unemployment still an existing problem in india.

Yes, unemployment is still a serious issue in our country. Steps need to be taken by the government and also by the youngsters in India to improve this situation.

Is it necessary for schoolchildren to be informed about unemployment?

Students at this young age should definitely be informed about this topic as it will motivate them to study and aim for higher scores in exams.

What points are to be added to an essay topic on Unemployment?

Add details about different age groups of people suffering from this state of employment. You can focus on the fact that poverty is an indirect reason for unemployment and vice-versa. Then, suggest steps that can be taken to bring about an improvement in education and increase the percentage of literacy.

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AP®︎/College Macroeconomics

Course: ap®︎/college macroeconomics   >   unit 2.

• Unemployment rate primer
• Natural, cyclical, structural, and frictional unemployment rates
• Worked free response question on unemployment

Lesson summary: Unemployment

• Unemployment
• Types of unemployment and the natural rate of unemployment

Lesson overview

Key takeaways, the labor force participation rate (lfpr), limitations of the unemployment rate, three types of unemployment, the natural rate of unemployment, changes in the natural rate of unemployment (nru), key equations, the labor force:, the unemployment rate (ur), common misperceptions.

• Not everyone who is out of work is unemployed. In order to be counted as unemployed you have to be out of work, looking for work, and able to accept a job if one is offered to you. If you are out of work and not looking, then you are considered “not in the labor force” rather than unemployed.
• We tend to think of unemployment as an undesirable thing, but a certain amount of unemployment is actually part of a healthy economy. Structural unemployment occurs when new industries are created and old industries become obsolete. For example, when we moved from using horses and buggies to using cars to get around, this put a lot of buggy makers in the structurally unemployed category.
• Frictional unemployment might not seem very fun, but consider what it means to have zero unemployment—nobody ever looks for a job, they just remain in whatever job they are given! In fact, a number of dystopian novels have been written in which everyone in a society is automatically assigned a fixed career (such as the Divergent series). Those societies have zero frictional unemployment, but they are also quite unpleasant if you are unhappy with that career!
• A decrease in the unemployment rate isn’t necessarily a sign of an improving economy. When people stop looking for jobs and drop out of the labor force as discouraged workers, the unemployment rate will decrease even though the true employment situation hasn’t gotten any better. This is why it is important to look at both changes in the unemployment rate and changes in the labor force participation rate. Looking at both changes let’s you get a more complete idea about changes in the employment situation.

Discussion Questions:

• An inventor in Burginville developed a fantastic new dictation machine that perfectly records speech and turns it into a typed document. Unfortunately, that meant that unemployment increased among typists working in offices. Which type of unemployment is this? Explain. Solution, please. This is structural unemployment because typists skills are no longer desired. The changing structure of office work has resulted in people losing their jobs.
• The nation of Fitlandia has 120 , 000 ‍   people. Of these, 20 , 000 ‍   are children under the age of 16, 72,000 ‍   have jobs, 8,000 ‍   don’t have jobs and are looking for work, and 20,000 ‍   people are retired. Assuming that these are all noninstitutionalized civilians, calculate the labor force participation rate and the unemployment rate. I think I got it. Can I check my work? L F = # Employed + # Unemployed = 72,000 + 8,000 = 80,000 L F P R = L F Eligible Population × 100 % = 80,000 100,000 × 100 % = 80 % U R = # Unemployed # Labor Force × 100 % = 8,000 80,000 × 100 % = 10 % ‍  
• Explain why a decrease in the unemployment rate can actually signal a tough job market.

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The Ultimate Narrative Essay Guide for Beginners

A narrative essay tells a story in chronological order, with an introduction that introduces the characters and sets the scene. Then a series of events leads to a climax or turning point, and finally a resolution or reflection on the experience.

Speaking of which, are you in sixes and sevens about narrative essays? Don’t worry this ultimate expert guide will wipe out all your doubts. So let’s get started.

Table of Contents

Everything You Need to Know About Narrative Essay

What is a narrative essay.

When you go through a narrative essay definition, you would know that a narrative essay purpose is to tell a story. It’s all about sharing an experience or event and is different from other types of essays because it’s more focused on how the event made you feel or what you learned from it, rather than just presenting facts or an argument. Let’s explore more details on this interesting write-up and get to know how to write a narrative essay.

Elements of a Narrative Essay

Here’s a breakdown of the key elements of a narrative essay:

A narrative essay has a beginning, middle, and end. It builds up tension and excitement and then wraps things up in a neat package.

Real people, including the writer, often feature in personal narratives. Details of the characters and their thoughts, feelings, and actions can help readers to relate to the tale.

It’s really important to know when and where something happened so we can get a good idea of the context. Going into detail about what it looks like helps the reader to really feel like they’re part of the story.

Conflict or Challenge 

A story in a narrative essay usually involves some kind of conflict or challenge that moves the plot along. It could be something inside the character, like a personal battle, or something from outside, like an issue they have to face in the world.

Theme or Message

A narrative essay isn’t just about recounting an event – it’s about showing the impact it had on you and what you took away from it. It’s an opportunity to share your thoughts and feelings about the experience, and how it changed your outlook.

Emotional Impact

The author is trying to make the story they’re telling relatable, engaging, and memorable by using language and storytelling to evoke feelings in whoever’s reading it.

Narrative essays let writers have a blast telling stories about their own lives. It’s an opportunity to share insights and impart wisdom, or just have some fun with the reader. Descriptive language, sensory details, dialogue, and a great narrative voice are all essentials for making the story come alive.

The Purpose of a Narrative Essay

A narrative essay is more than just a story – it’s a way to share a meaningful, engaging, and relatable experience with the reader. Includes:

Sharing Personal Experience

Narrative essays are a great way for writers to share their personal experiences, feelings, thoughts, and reflections. It’s an opportunity to connect with readers and make them feel something.

Entertainment and Engagement

The essay attempts to keep the reader interested by using descriptive language, storytelling elements, and a powerful voice. It attempts to pull them in and make them feel involved by creating suspense, mystery, or an emotional connection.

Conveying a Message or Insight

Narrative essays are more than just a story – they aim to teach you something. They usually have a moral lesson, a new understanding, or a realization about life that the author gained from the experience.

Building Empathy and Understanding

By telling their stories, people can give others insight into different perspectives, feelings, and situations. Sharing these tales can create compassion in the reader and help broaden their knowledge of different life experiences.

Inspiration and Motivation

Stories about personal struggles, successes, and transformations can be really encouraging to people who are going through similar situations. It can provide them with hope and guidance, and let them know that they’re not alone.

Reflecting on Life’s Significance

These essays usually make you think about the importance of certain moments in life or the impact of certain experiences. They make you look deep within yourself and ponder on the things you learned or how you changed because of those events.

Demonstrating Writing Skills

Coming up with a gripping narrative essay takes serious writing chops, like vivid descriptions, powerful language, timing, and organization. It’s an opportunity for writers to show off their story-telling abilities.

Preserving Personal History

Sometimes narrative essays are used to record experiences and special moments that have an emotional resonance. They can be used to preserve individual memories or for future generations to look back on.

Cultural and Societal Exploration

Personal stories can look at cultural or social aspects, giving us an insight into customs, opinions, or social interactions seen through someone’s own experience.

Format of a Narrative Essay

Narrative essays are quite flexible in terms of format, which allows the writer to tell a story in a creative and compelling way. Here’s a quick breakdown of the narrative essay format, along with some examples:

Introduction

Set the scene and introduce the story.

Engage the reader and establish the tone of the narrative.

Hook: Start with a captivating opening line to grab the reader’s attention. For instance:

Example:  “The scorching sun beat down on us as we trekked through the desert, our water supply dwindling.”

Background Information: Provide necessary context or background without giving away the entire story.

Example:  “It was the summer of 2015 when I embarked on a life-changing journey to…”

Thesis Statement or Narrative Purpose

Present the main idea or the central message of the essay.

Offer a glimpse of what the reader can expect from the narrative.

Thesis Statement: This isn’t as rigid as in other essays but can be a sentence summarizing the essence of the story.

Example:  “Little did I know, that seemingly ordinary hike would teach me invaluable lessons about resilience and friendship.”

Body Paragraphs

Present the sequence of events in chronological order.

Develop characters, setting, conflict, and resolution.

Story Progression : Describe events in the order they occurred, focusing on details that evoke emotions and create vivid imagery.

Example : Detail the trek through the desert, the challenges faced, interactions with fellow hikers, and the pivotal moments.

Character Development : Introduce characters and their roles in the story. Show their emotions, thoughts, and actions.

Example : Describe how each character reacted to the dwindling water supply and supported each other through adversity.

Dialogue and Interactions : Use dialogue to bring the story to life and reveal character personalities.

Example : “Sarah handed me her last bottle of water, saying, ‘We’re in this together.'”

Reach the peak of the story, the moment of highest tension or significance.

Turning Point: Highlight the most crucial moment or realization in the narrative.

Example:  “As the sun dipped below the horizon and hope seemed lost, a distant sound caught our attention—the rescue team’s helicopters.”

Provide closure to the story.

Reflect on the significance of the experience and its impact.

Reflection : Summarize the key lessons learned or insights gained from the experience.

Example : “That hike taught me the true meaning of resilience and the invaluable support of friendship in challenging times.”

Closing Thought : End with a memorable line that reinforces the narrative’s message or leaves a lasting impression.

Example : “As we boarded the helicopters, I knew this adventure would forever be etched in my heart.”

Example Summary:

Imagine a narrative about surviving a challenging hike through the desert, emphasizing the bonds formed and lessons learned. The narrative essay structure might look like starting with an engaging scene, narrating the hardships faced, showcasing the characters’ resilience, and culminating in a powerful realization about friendship and endurance.

Different Types of Narrative Essays

There are a bunch of different types of narrative essays – each one focuses on different elements of storytelling and has its own purpose. Here’s a breakdown of the narrative essay types and what they mean.

Personal Narrative

Description : Tells a personal story or experience from the writer’s life.

Purpose: Reflects on personal growth, lessons learned, or significant moments.

Example of Narrative Essay Types:

Topic : “The Day I Conquered My Fear of Public Speaking”

Focus: Details the experience, emotions, and eventual triumph over a fear of public speaking during a pivotal event.

Descriptive Narrative

Description : Emphasizes vivid details and sensory imagery.

Purpose : Creates a sensory experience, painting a vivid picture for the reader.

Topic : “A Walk Through the Enchanted Forest”

Focus : Paints a detailed picture of the sights, sounds, smells, and feelings experienced during a walk through a mystical forest.

Autobiographical Narrative

Description: Chronicles significant events or moments from the writer’s life.

Purpose: Provides insights into the writer’s life, experiences, and growth.

Topic: “Lessons from My Childhood: How My Grandmother Shaped Who I Am”

Focus: Explores pivotal moments and lessons learned from interactions with a significant family member.

Experiential Narrative

Description: Relays experiences beyond the writer’s personal life.

Purpose: Shares experiences, travels, or events from a broader perspective.

Topic: “Volunteering in a Remote Village: A Journey of Empathy”

Focus: Chronicles the writer’s volunteering experience, highlighting interactions with a community and personal growth.

Literary Narrative

Description: Incorporates literary elements like symbolism, allegory, or thematic explorations.

Purpose: Uses storytelling for deeper explorations of themes or concepts.

Topic: “The Symbolism of the Red Door: A Journey Through Change”

Focus: Uses a red door as a symbol, exploring its significance in the narrator’s life and the theme of transition.

Historical Narrative

Description: Recounts historical events or periods through a personal lens.

Purpose: Presents history through personal experiences or perspectives.

Topic: “A Grandfather’s Tales: Living Through the Great Depression”

Focus: Shares personal stories from a family member who lived through a historical era, offering insights into that period.

Digital or Multimedia Narrative

Description: Incorporates multimedia elements like images, videos, or audio to tell a story.

Purpose: Explores storytelling through various digital platforms or formats.

Topic: “A Travel Diary: Exploring Europe Through Vlogs”

Focus: Combines video clips, photos, and personal narration to document a travel experience.

How to Choose a Topic for Your Narrative Essay?

Selecting a compelling topic for your narrative essay is crucial as it sets the stage for your storytelling. Choosing a boring topic is one of the narrative essay mistakes to avoid . Here’s a detailed guide on how to choose the right topic:

Reflect on Personal Experiences

• Significant Moments:

Moments that had a profound impact on your life or shaped your perspective.

Example: A moment of triumph, overcoming a fear, a life-changing decision, or an unforgettable experience.

• Emotional Resonance:

Events that evoke strong emotions or feelings.

Example: Joy, fear, sadness, excitement, or moments of realization.

• Lessons Learned:

Experiences that taught you valuable lessons or brought about personal growth.

Example: Challenges that led to personal development, shifts in mindset, or newfound insights.

Explore Unique Perspectives

• Uncommon Experiences:

Unique or unconventional experiences that might captivate the reader’s interest.

Example: Unusual travels, interactions with different cultures, or uncommon hobbies.

• Different Points of View:

Stories from others’ perspectives that impacted you deeply.

Example: A family member’s story, a friend’s experience, or a historical event from a personal lens.

Focus on Specific Themes or Concepts

• Themes or Concepts of Interest:

Themes or ideas you want to explore through storytelling.

Example: Friendship, resilience, identity, cultural diversity, or personal transformation.

• Symbolism or Metaphor:

Using symbols or metaphors as the core of your narrative.

Example: Exploring the symbolism of an object or a place in relation to a broader theme.

Consider Your Audience and Purpose

• Relevance to Your Audience:

Topics that resonate with your audience’s interests or experiences.

Example: Choose a relatable theme or experience that your readers might connect with emotionally.

• Impact or Message:

What message or insight do you want to convey through your story?

Example: Choose a topic that aligns with the message or lesson you aim to impart to your readers.

Brainstorm and Evaluate Ideas

• Free Writing or Mind Mapping:

Process: Write down all potential ideas without filtering. Mind maps or free-writing exercises can help generate diverse ideas.

• Evaluate Feasibility:

The depth of the story, the availability of vivid details, and your personal connection to the topic.

Imagine you’re considering topics for a narrative essay. You reflect on your experiences and decide to explore the topic of “Overcoming Stage Fright: How a School Play Changed My Perspective.” This topic resonates because it involves a significant challenge you faced and the personal growth it brought about.

Narrative Essay Topics

50 easy narrative essay topics.

• Learning to Ride a Bike
• My First Day of School
• A Surprise Birthday Party
• The Day I Got Lost
• Visiting a Haunted House
• An Encounter with a Wild Animal
• My Favorite Childhood Toy
• The Best Vacation I Ever Had
• An Unforgettable Family Gathering
• Conquering a Fear of Heights
• A Special Gift I Received
• Moving to a New City
• The Most Memorable Meal
• Getting Caught in a Rainstorm
• An Act of Kindness I Witnessed
• The First Time I Cooked a Meal
• My Experience with a New Hobby
• The Day I Met My Best Friend
• A Hike in the Mountains
• Learning a New Language
• An Embarrassing Moment
• Dealing with a Bully
• My First Job Interview
• A Sporting Event I Attended
• The Scariest Dream I Had
• Helping a Stranger
• The Joy of Achieving a Goal
• A Road Trip Adventure
• Overcoming a Personal Challenge
• The Significance of a Family Tradition
• An Unusual Pet I Owned
• A Misunderstanding with a Friend
• Exploring an Abandoned Building
• My Favorite Book and Why
• The Impact of a Role Model
• A Cultural Celebration I Participated In
• A Valuable Lesson from a Teacher
• A Trip to the Zoo
• An Unplanned Adventure
• Volunteering Experience
• A Moment of Forgiveness
• A Decision I Regretted
• A Special Talent I Have
• The Importance of Family Traditions
• The Thrill of Performing on Stage
• A Moment of Sudden Inspiration
• The Meaning of Home
• Learning to Play a Musical Instrument
• A Childhood Memory at the Park
• Witnessing a Beautiful Sunset

Narrative Essay Topics for College Students

• Discovering a New Passion
• Overcoming Academic Challenges
• Navigating Cultural Differences
• Embracing Independence: Moving Away from Home
• Exploring Career Aspirations
• Coping with Stress in College
• The Impact of a Mentor in My Life
• Balancing Work and Studies
• Facing a Fear of Public Speaking
• Exploring a Semester Abroad
• The Evolution of My Study Habits
• Volunteering Experience That Changed My Perspective
• The Role of Technology in Education
• Finding Balance: Social Life vs. Academics
• Learning a New Skill Outside the Classroom
• Reflecting on Freshman Year Challenges
• The Joys and Struggles of Group Projects
• My Experience with Internship or Work Placement
• Challenges of Time Management in College
• Redefining Success Beyond Grades
• The Influence of Literature on My Thinking
• The Impact of Social Media on College Life
• Overcoming Procrastination
• Lessons from a Leadership Role
• Exploring Diversity on Campus
• Exploring Passion for Environmental Conservation
• An Eye-Opening Course That Changed My Perspective
• Living with Roommates: Challenges and Lessons
• The Significance of Extracurricular Activities
• The Influence of a Professor on My Academic Journey
• Discussing Mental Health in College
• The Evolution of My Career Goals
• Confronting Personal Biases Through Education
• The Experience of Attending a Conference or Symposium
• Challenges Faced by Non-Native English Speakers in College
• The Impact of Traveling During Breaks
• Exploring Identity: Cultural or Personal
• The Impact of Music or Art on My Life
• Addressing Diversity in the Classroom
• Exploring Entrepreneurial Ambitions
• My Experience with Research Projects
• Overcoming Impostor Syndrome in College
• The Importance of Networking in College
• Finding Resilience During Tough Times
• The Impact of Global Issues on Local Perspectives
• The Influence of Family Expectations on Education
• Lessons from a Part-Time Job
• Exploring the College Sports Culture
• The Role of Technology in Modern Education
• The Journey of Self-Discovery Through Education

Narrative Essay Comparison

Narrative essay vs. descriptive essay.

Here’s our first narrative essay comparison! While both narrative and descriptive essays focus on vividly portraying a subject or an event, they differ in their primary objectives and approaches. Now, let’s delve into the nuances of comparison on narrative essays.

Narrative Essay:

Storytelling: Focuses on narrating a personal experience or event.

Chronological Order: Follows a structured timeline of events to tell a story.

Message or Lesson: Often includes a central message, moral, or lesson learned from the experience.

Engagement: Aims to captivate the reader through a compelling storyline and character development.

First-Person Perspective: Typically narrated from the writer’s point of view, using “I” and expressing personal emotions and thoughts.

Plot Development: Emphasizes a plot with a beginning, middle, climax, and resolution.

Character Development: Focuses on describing characters, their interactions, emotions, and growth.

Conflict or Challenge: Usually involves a central conflict or challenge that drives the narrative forward.

Dialogue: Incorporates conversations to bring characters and their interactions to life.

Reflection: Concludes with reflection or insight gained from the experience.

Descriptive Essay:

Vivid Description: Aims to vividly depict a person, place, object, or event.

Imagery and Details: Focuses on sensory details to create a vivid image in the reader’s mind.

Emotion through Description: Uses descriptive language to evoke emotions and engage the reader’s senses.

Painting a Picture: Creates a sensory-rich description allowing the reader to visualize the subject.

Imagery and Sensory Details: Focuses on providing rich sensory descriptions, using vivid language and adjectives.

Point of Focus: Concentrates on describing a specific subject or scene in detail.

Spatial Organization: Often employs spatial organization to describe from one area or aspect to another.

Objective Observations: Typically avoids the use of personal opinions or emotions; instead, the focus remains on providing a detailed and objective description.

Comparison:

Focus: Narrative essays emphasize storytelling, while descriptive essays focus on vividly describing a subject or scene.

Perspective: Narrative essays are often written from a first-person perspective, while descriptive essays may use a more objective viewpoint.

Purpose: Narrative essays aim to convey a message or lesson through a story, while descriptive essays aim to paint a detailed picture for the reader without necessarily conveying a specific message.

Narrative Essay vs. Argumentative Essay

The narrative essay and the argumentative essay serve distinct purposes and employ different approaches:

Engagement and Emotion: Aims to captivate the reader through a compelling story.

Reflective: Often includes reflection on the significance of the experience or lessons learned.

First-Person Perspective: Typically narrated from the writer’s point of view, sharing personal emotions and thoughts.

Plot Development: Emphasizes a storyline with a beginning, middle, climax, and resolution.

Message or Lesson: Conveys a central message, moral, or insight derived from the experience.

Argumentative Essay:

Persuasion and Argumentation: Aims to persuade the reader to adopt the writer’s viewpoint on a specific topic.

Logical Reasoning: Presents evidence, facts, and reasoning to support a particular argument or stance.

Debate and Counterarguments: Acknowledge opposing views and counter them with evidence and reasoning.

Thesis Statement: Includes a clear thesis statement that outlines the writer’s position on the topic.

Thesis and Evidence: Starts with a strong thesis statement and supports it with factual evidence, statistics, expert opinions, or logical reasoning.

Counterarguments: Addresses opposing viewpoints and provides rebuttals with evidence.

Logical Structure: Follows a logical structure with an introduction, body paragraphs presenting arguments and evidence, and a conclusion reaffirming the thesis.

Formal Language: Uses formal language and avoids personal anecdotes or emotional appeals.

Objective: Argumentative essays focus on presenting a logical argument supported by evidence, while narrative essays prioritize storytelling and personal reflection.

Purpose: Argumentative essays aim to persuade and convince the reader of a particular viewpoint, while narrative essays aim to engage, entertain, and share personal experiences.

Structure: Narrative essays follow a storytelling structure with character development and plot, while argumentative essays follow a more formal, structured approach with logical arguments and evidence.

In essence, while both essays involve writing and presenting information, the narrative essay focuses on sharing a personal experience, whereas the argumentative essay aims to persuade the audience by presenting a well-supported argument.

Narrative Essay vs. Personal Essay

While there can be an overlap between narrative and personal essays, they have distinctive characteristics:

Storytelling: Emphasizes recounting a specific experience or event in a structured narrative form.

Engagement through Story: Aims to engage the reader through a compelling story with characters, plot, and a central theme or message.

Reflective: Often includes reflection on the significance of the experience and the lessons learned.

First-Person Perspective: Typically narrated from the writer’s viewpoint, expressing personal emotions and thoughts.

Plot Development: Focuses on developing a storyline with a clear beginning, middle, climax, and resolution.

Character Development: Includes descriptions of characters, their interactions, emotions, and growth.

Central Message: Conveys a central message, moral, or insight derived from the experience.

Personal Essay:

Exploration of Ideas or Themes: Explores personal ideas, opinions, or reflections on a particular topic or subject.

Expression of Thoughts and Opinions: Expresses the writer’s thoughts, feelings, and perspectives on a specific subject matter.

Reflection and Introspection: Often involves self-reflection and introspection on personal experiences, beliefs, or values.

Varied Structure and Content: Can encompass various forms, including memoirs, personal anecdotes, or reflections on life experiences.

Flexibility in Structure: Allows for diverse structures and forms based on the writer’s intent, which could be narrative-like or more reflective.

Theme-Centric Writing: Focuses on exploring a central theme or idea, with personal anecdotes or experiences supporting and illustrating the theme.

Expressive Language: Utilizes descriptive and expressive language to convey personal perspectives, emotions, and opinions.

Focus: Narrative essays primarily focus on storytelling through a structured narrative, while personal essays encompass a broader range of personal expression, which can include storytelling but isn’t limited to it.

Structure: Narrative essays have a more structured plot development with characters and a clear sequence of events, while personal essays might adopt various structures, focusing more on personal reflection, ideas, or themes.

Intent: While both involve personal experiences, narrative essays emphasize telling a story with a message or lesson learned, while personal essays aim to explore personal thoughts, feelings, or opinions on a broader range of topics or themes.

A narrative essay is more than just telling a story. It’s also meant to engage the reader, get them thinking, and leave a lasting impact. Whether it’s to amuse, motivate, teach, or reflect, these essays are a great way to communicate with your audience. This interesting narrative essay guide was all about letting you understand the narrative essay, its importance, and how can you write one.

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, 3 great narrative essay examples + tips for writing.

General Education

A narrative essay is one of the most intimidating assignments you can be handed at any level of your education. Where you've previously written argumentative essays that make a point or analytic essays that dissect meaning, a narrative essay asks you to write what is effectively a story .

But unlike a simple work of creative fiction, your narrative essay must have a clear and concrete motif —a recurring theme or idea that you’ll explore throughout. Narrative essays are less rigid, more creative in expression, and therefore pretty different from most other essays you’ll be writing.

But not to fear—in this article, we’ll be covering what a narrative essay is, how to write a good one, and also analyzing some personal narrative essay examples to show you what a great one looks like.

What Is a Narrative Essay?

At first glance, a narrative essay might sound like you’re just writing a story. Like the stories you're used to reading, a narrative essay is generally (but not always) chronological, following a clear throughline from beginning to end. Even if the story jumps around in time, all the details will come back to one specific theme, demonstrated through your choice in motifs.

Unlike many creative stories, however, your narrative essay should be based in fact. That doesn’t mean that every detail needs to be pure and untainted by imagination, but rather that you shouldn’t wholly invent the events of your narrative essay. There’s nothing wrong with inventing a person’s words if you can’t remember them exactly, but you shouldn’t say they said something they weren’t even close to saying.

Another big difference between narrative essays and creative fiction—as well as other kinds of essays—is that narrative essays are based on motifs. A motif is a dominant idea or theme, one that you establish before writing the essay. As you’re crafting the narrative, it’ll feed back into your motif to create a comprehensive picture of whatever that motif is.

For example, say you want to write a narrative essay about how your first day in high school helped you establish your identity. You might discuss events like trying to figure out where to sit in the cafeteria, having to describe yourself in five words as an icebreaker in your math class, or being unsure what to do during your lunch break because it’s no longer acceptable to go outside and play during lunch. All of those ideas feed back into the central motif of establishing your identity.

The important thing to remember is that while a narrative essay is typically told chronologically and intended to read like a story, it is not purely for entertainment value. A narrative essay delivers its theme by deliberately weaving the motifs through the events, scenes, and details. While a narrative essay may be entertaining, its primary purpose is to tell a complete story based on a central meaning.

Unlike other essay forms, it is totally okay—even expected—to use first-person narration in narrative essays. If you’re writing a story about yourself, it’s natural to refer to yourself within the essay. It’s also okay to use other perspectives, such as third- or even second-person, but that should only be done if it better serves your motif. Generally speaking, your narrative essay should be in first-person perspective.

Though your motif choices may feel at times like you’re making a point the way you would in an argumentative essay, a narrative essay’s goal is to tell a story, not convince the reader of anything. Your reader should be able to tell what your motif is from reading, but you don’t have to change their mind about anything. If they don’t understand the point you are making, you should consider strengthening the delivery of the events and descriptions that support your motif.

Narrative essays also share some features with analytical essays, in which you derive meaning from a book, film, or other media. But narrative essays work differently—you’re not trying to draw meaning from an existing text, but rather using an event you’ve experienced to convey meaning. In an analytical essay, you examine narrative, whereas in a narrative essay you create narrative.

The structure of a narrative essay is also a bit different than other essays. You’ll generally be getting your point across chronologically as opposed to grouping together specific arguments in paragraphs or sections. To return to the example of an essay discussing your first day of high school and how it impacted the shaping of your identity, it would be weird to put the events out of order, even if not knowing what to do after lunch feels like a stronger idea than choosing where to sit. Instead of organizing to deliver your information based on maximum impact, you’ll be telling your story as it happened, using concrete details to reinforce your theme.

3 Great Narrative Essay Examples

One of the best ways to learn how to write a narrative essay is to look at a great narrative essay sample. Let’s take a look at some truly stellar narrative essay examples and dive into what exactly makes them work so well.

A Ticket to the Fair by David Foster Wallace

Today is Press Day at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, and I’m supposed to be at the fairgrounds by 9:00 A.M. to get my credentials. I imagine credentials to be a small white card in the band of a fedora. I’ve never been considered press before. My real interest in credentials is getting into rides and shows for free. I’m fresh in from the East Coast, for an East Coast magazine. Why exactly they’re interested in the Illinois State Fair remains unclear to me. I suspect that every so often editors at East Coast magazines slap their foreheads and remember that about 90 percent of the United States lies between the coasts, and figure they’ll engage somebody to do pith-helmeted anthropological reporting on something rural and heartlandish. I think they asked me to do this because I grew up here, just a couple hours’ drive from downstate Springfield. I never did go to the state fair, though—I pretty much topped out at the county fair level. Actually, I haven’t been back to Illinois for a long time, and I can’t say I’ve missed it.

Throughout this essay, David Foster Wallace recounts his experience as press at the Illinois State Fair. But it’s clear from this opening that he’s not just reporting on the events exactly as they happened—though that’s also true— but rather making a point about how the East Coast, where he lives and works, thinks about the Midwest.

In his opening paragraph, Wallace states that outright: “Why exactly they’re interested in the Illinois State Fair remains unclear to me. I suspect that every so often editors at East Coast magazines slap their foreheads and remember that about 90 percent of the United States lies between the coasts, and figure they’ll engage somebody to do pith-helmeted anthropological reporting on something rural and heartlandish.”

Not every motif needs to be stated this clearly , but in an essay as long as Wallace’s, particularly since the audience for such a piece may feel similarly and forget that such a large portion of the country exists, it’s important to make that point clear.

But Wallace doesn’t just rest on introducing his motif and telling the events exactly as they occurred from there. It’s clear that he selects events that remind us of that idea of East Coast cynicism , such as when he realizes that the Help Me Grow tent is standing on top of fake grass that is killing the real grass beneath, when he realizes the hypocrisy of craving a corn dog when faced with a real, suffering pig, when he’s upset for his friend even though he’s not the one being sexually harassed, and when he witnesses another East Coast person doing something he wouldn’t dare to do.

Wallace is literally telling the audience exactly what happened, complete with dates and timestamps for when each event occurred. But he’s also choosing those events with a purpose—he doesn’t focus on details that don’t serve his motif. That’s why he discusses the experiences of people, how the smells are unappealing to him, and how all the people he meets, in cowboy hats, overalls, or “black spandex that looks like cheesecake leotards,” feel almost alien to him.

All of these details feed back into the throughline of East Coast thinking that Wallace introduces in the first paragraph. He also refers back to it in the essay’s final paragraph, stating:

At last, an overarching theory blooms inside my head: megalopolitan East Coasters’ summer treats and breaks and literally ‘getaways,’ flights-from—from crowds, noise, heat, dirt, the stress of too many sensory choices….The East Coast existential treat is escape from confines and stimuli—quiet, rustic vistas that hold still, turn inward, turn away. Not so in the rural Midwest. Here you’re pretty much away all the time….Something in a Midwesterner sort of actuates , deep down, at a public event….The real spectacle that draws us here is us.

Throughout this journey, Wallace has tried to demonstrate how the East Coast thinks about the Midwest, ultimately concluding that they are captivated by the Midwest’s less stimuli-filled life, but that the real reason they are interested in events like the Illinois State Fair is that they are, in some ways, a means of looking at the East Coast in a new, estranging way.

The reason this works so well is that Wallace has carefully chosen his examples, outlined his motif and themes in the first paragraph, and eventually circled back to the original motif with a clearer understanding of his original point.

When outlining your own narrative essay, try to do the same. Start with a theme, build upon it with examples, and return to it in the end with an even deeper understanding of the original issue. You don’t need this much space to explore a theme, either—as we’ll see in the next example, a strong narrative essay can also be very short.

Death of a Moth by Virginia Woolf

After a time, tired by his dancing apparently, he settled on the window ledge in the sun, and, the queer spectacle being at an end, I forgot about him. Then, looking up, my eye was caught by him. He was trying to resume his dancing, but seemed either so stiff or so awkward that he could only flutter to the bottom of the window-pane; and when he tried to fly across it he failed. Being intent on other matters I watched these futile attempts for a time without thinking, unconsciously waiting for him to resume his flight, as one waits for a machine, that has stopped momentarily, to start again without considering the reason of its failure. After perhaps a seventh attempt he slipped from the wooden ledge and fell, fluttering his wings, on to his back on the window sill. The helplessness of his attitude roused me. It flashed upon me that he was in difficulties; he could no longer raise himself; his legs struggled vainly. But, as I stretched out a pencil, meaning to help him to right himself, it came over me that the failure and awkwardness were the approach of death. I laid the pencil down again.

In this essay, Virginia Woolf explains her encounter with a dying moth. On surface level, this essay is just a recounting of an afternoon in which she watched a moth die—it’s even established in the title. But there’s more to it than that. Though Woolf does not begin her essay with as clear a motif as Wallace, it’s not hard to pick out the evidence she uses to support her point, which is that the experience of this moth is also the human experience.

In the title, Woolf tells us this essay is about death. But in the first paragraph, she seems to mostly be discussing life—the moth is “content with life,” people are working in the fields, and birds are flying. However, she mentions that it is mid-September and that the fields were being plowed. It’s autumn and it’s time for the harvest; the time of year in which many things die.

In this short essay, she chronicles the experience of watching a moth seemingly embody life, then die. Though this essay is literally about a moth, it’s also about a whole lot more than that. After all, moths aren’t the only things that die—Woolf is also reflecting on her own mortality, as well as the mortality of everything around her.

At its core, the essay discusses the push and pull of life and death, not in a way that’s necessarily sad, but in a way that is accepting of both. Woolf begins by setting up the transitional fall season, often associated with things coming to an end, and raises the ideas of pleasure, vitality, and pity.

At one point, Woolf tries to help the dying moth, but reconsiders, as it would interfere with the natural order of the world. The moth’s death is part of the natural order of the world, just like fall, just like her own eventual death.

All these themes are set up in the beginning and explored throughout the essay’s narrative. Though Woolf doesn’t directly state her theme, she reinforces it by choosing a small, isolated event—watching a moth die—and illustrating her point through details.

With this essay, we can see that you don’t need a big, weird, exciting event to discuss an important meaning. Woolf is able to explore complicated ideas in a short essay by being deliberate about what details she includes, just as you can be in your own essays.

Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin

On the twenty-ninth of July, in 1943, my father died. On the same day, a few hours later, his last child was born. Over a month before this, while all our energies were concentrated in waiting for these events, there had been, in Detroit, one of the bloodiest race riots of the century. A few hours after my father’s funeral, while he lay in state in the undertaker’s chapel, a race riot broke out in Harlem. On the morning of the third of August, we drove my father to the graveyard through a wilderness of smashed plate glass.

Like Woolf, Baldwin does not lay out his themes in concrete terms—unlike Wallace, there’s no clear sentence that explains what he’ll be talking about. However, you can see the motifs quite clearly: death, fatherhood, struggle, and race.

Throughout the narrative essay, Baldwin discusses the circumstances of his father’s death, including his complicated relationship with his father. By introducing those motifs in the first paragraph, the reader understands that everything discussed in the essay will come back to those core ideas. When Baldwin talks about his experience with a white teacher taking an interest in him and his father’s resistance to that, he is also talking about race and his father’s death. When he talks about his father’s death, he is also talking about his views on race. When he talks about his encounters with segregation and racism, he is talking, in part, about his father.

Because his father was a hard, uncompromising man, Baldwin struggles to reconcile the knowledge that his father was right about many things with his desire to not let that hardness consume him, as well.

Baldwin doesn’t explicitly state any of this, but his writing so often touches on the same motifs that it becomes clear he wants us to think about all these ideas in conversation with one another.

At the end of the essay, Baldwin makes it more clear:

This fight begins, however, in the heart and it had now been laid to my charge to keep my own heart free of hatred and despair. This intimation made my heart heavy and, now that my father was irrecoverable, I wished that he had been beside me so that I could have searched his face for the answers which only the future would give me now.

Here, Baldwin ties together the themes and motifs into one clear statement: that he must continue to fight and recognize injustice, especially racial injustice, just as his father did. But unlike his father, he must do it beginning with himself—he must not let himself be closed off to the world as his father was. And yet, he still wishes he had his father for guidance, even as he establishes that he hopes to be a different man than his father.

In this essay, Baldwin loads the front of the essay with his motifs, and, through his narrative, weaves them together into a theme. In the end, he comes to a conclusion that connects all of those things together and leaves the reader with a lasting impression of completion—though the elements may have been initially disparate, in the end everything makes sense.

You can replicate this tactic of introducing seemingly unattached ideas and weaving them together in your own essays. By introducing those motifs, developing them throughout, and bringing them together in the end, you can demonstrate to your reader how all of them are related. However, it’s especially important to be sure that your motifs and clear and consistent throughout your essay so that the conclusion feels earned and consistent—if not, readers may feel mislead.

5 Key Tips for Writing Narrative Essays

Narrative essays can be a lot of fun to write since they’re so heavily based on creativity. But that can also feel intimidating—sometimes it’s easier to have strict guidelines than to have to make it all up yourself. Here are a few tips to keep your narrative essay feeling strong and fresh.

Develop Strong Motifs

Motifs are the foundation of a narrative essay . What are you trying to say? How can you say that using specific symbols or events? Those are your motifs.

In the same way that an argumentative essay’s body should support its thesis, the body of your narrative essay should include motifs that support your theme.

Try to avoid cliches, as these will feel tired to your readers. Instead of roses to symbolize love, try succulents. Instead of the ocean representing some vast, unknowable truth, try the depths of your brother’s bedroom. Keep your language and motifs fresh and your essay will be even stronger!

Use First-Person Perspective

In many essays, you’re expected to remove yourself so that your points stand on their own. Not so in a narrative essay—in this case, you want to make use of your own perspective.

Sometimes a different perspective can make your point even stronger. If you want someone to identify with your point of view, it may be tempting to choose a second-person perspective. However, be sure you really understand the function of second-person; it’s very easy to put a reader off if the narration isn’t expertly deployed.

If you want a little bit of distance, third-person perspective may be okay. But be careful—too much distance and your reader may feel like the narrative lacks truth.

That’s why first-person perspective is the standard. It keeps you, the writer, close to the narrative, reminding the reader that it really happened. And because you really know what happened and how, you’re free to inject your own opinion into the story without it detracting from your point, as it would in a different type of essay.

Stick to the Truth

Your essay should be true. However, this is a creative essay, and it’s okay to embellish a little. Rarely in life do we experience anything with a clear, concrete meaning the way somebody in a book might. If you flub the details a little, it’s okay—just don’t make them up entirely.

Also, nobody expects you to perfectly recall details that may have happened years ago. You may have to reconstruct dialog from your memory and your imagination. That’s okay, again, as long as you aren’t making it up entirely and assigning made-up statements to somebody.

Dialog is a powerful tool. A good conversation can add flavor and interest to a story, as we saw demonstrated in David Foster Wallace’s essay. As previously mentioned, it’s okay to flub it a little, especially because you’re likely writing about an experience you had without knowing that you’d be writing about it later.

However, don’t rely too much on it. Your narrative essay shouldn’t be told through people explaining things to one another; the motif comes through in the details. Dialog can be one of those details, but it shouldn’t be the only one.

Use Sensory Descriptions

Because a narrative essay is a story, you can use sensory details to make your writing more interesting. If you’re describing a particular experience, you can go into detail about things like taste, smell, and hearing in a way that you probably wouldn’t do in any other essay style.

These details can tie into your overall motifs and further your point. Woolf describes in great detail what she sees while watching the moth, giving us the sense that we, too, are watching the moth. In Wallace’s essay, he discusses the sights, sounds, and smells of the Illinois State Fair to help emphasize his point about its strangeness. And in Baldwin’s essay, he describes shattered glass as a “wilderness,” and uses the feelings of his body to describe his mental state.

All these descriptions anchor us not only in the story, but in the motifs and themes as well. One of the tools of a writer is making the reader feel as you felt, and sensory details help you achieve that.

What’s Next?

Looking to brush up on your essay-writing capabilities before the ACT? This guide to ACT English will walk you through some of the best strategies and practice questions to get you prepared!

Part of practicing for the ACT is ensuring your word choice and diction are on point. Check out this guide to some of the most common errors on the ACT English section to be sure that you're not making these common mistakes!

A solid understanding of English principles will help you make an effective point in a narrative essay, and you can get that understanding through taking a rigorous assortment of high school English classes !

Melissa Brinks graduated from the University of Washington in 2014 with a Bachelor's in English with a creative writing emphasis. She has spent several years tutoring K-12 students in many subjects, including in SAT prep, to help them prepare for their college education.

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Narrative Essays

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What is a narrative essay?

When writing a narrative essay, one might think of it as telling a story. These essays are often anecdotal, experiential, and personal—allowing students to express themselves in a creative and, quite often, moving ways.

Here are some guidelines for writing a narrative essay.

• If written as a story, the essay should include all the parts of a story.

This means that you must include an introduction, plot, characters, setting, climax, and conclusion.

• When would a narrative essay not be written as a story?

A good example of this is when an instructor asks a student to write a book report. Obviously, this would not necessarily follow the pattern of a story and would focus on providing an informative narrative for the reader.

• The essay should have a purpose.

Make a point! Think of this as the thesis of your story. If there is no point to what you are narrating, why narrate it at all?

• The essay should be written from a clear point of view.

It is quite common for narrative essays to be written from the standpoint of the author; however, this is not the sole perspective to be considered. Creativity in narrative essays oftentimes manifests itself in the form of authorial perspective.

• Use clear and concise language throughout the essay.

Much like the descriptive essay, narrative essays are effective when the language is carefully, particularly, and artfully chosen. Use specific language to evoke specific emotions and senses in the reader.

• The use of the first person pronoun ‘I’ is welcomed.

Do not abuse this guideline! Though it is welcomed it is not necessary—nor should it be overused for lack of clearer diction.

• As always, be organized!

Have a clear introduction that sets the tone for the remainder of the essay. Do not leave the reader guessing about the purpose of your narrative. Remember, you are in control of the essay, so guide it where you desire (just make sure your audience can follow your lead).

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Biden’s Approval Is Low, Except Compared With Everyone Else’s

By Paul Krugman

Opinion Columnist

Q. What do you call someone who speaks only one language?

A. An American.

It’s an old joke, but it still works. In fact, I’m monolingual myself, even though my academic work was largely focused on international trade and finance. In my defense, the great bulk of global economic research is published in English; and in general, Americans’ lack of language skills is less important than their insularity, their relative unfamiliarity with what happens and how things work in other nations.

Other countries, especially wealthy ones that more or less match the United States in technological development and general ability to get things done, are a sort of mirror that helps us see ourselves more clearly. Yet many Americans, even supposedly knowledgeable commentators, often seem unaware of both the ways other nations are similar to us and the ways they are different.

In particular, with the looming election on everyone’s mind, how many are aware that President Biden is among the more popular — well, less unpopular — leaders in the Western world?

I’ll come back to that surprising fact, and what it tells us, in a minute. First, let’s talk about some other international comparisons that seem relevant to the current situation.

Although we hear politicians on the campaign trail trying to make hay with the old Reagan-era question — Are you better off than you were four years ago? — there’s a lot of amnesia about what was actually happening in 2020, namely a deadly, terrifying pandemic. To some extent, I guess, people treat Covid-19 as an act of God, beyond the reach of politicians.

But that isn’t really true. No matter what we did, many people were going to die — but the death toll was affected by politics, perhaps especially by the way vaccines became a front in the culture war. And America had a really bad pandemic, even compared with its peers. U.S. life expectancy was already lagging behind comparable countries’ by 2019, but the gap widened after Covid-19 struck.

On the other hand, the U.S. economy experienced an exceptionally strong bounce back from the pandemic recession. Even after adjusting for inflation, U.S. gross domestic product per capita is up 7 percent since the eve of the pandemic, greatly exceeding growth in other major wealthy economies. This would seem on the face of it to say something good about Biden’s economic policies.

But public perception of our economic performance is strongly colored by rising prices. Inflation — the rate at which prices are rising — has subsided a lot, but prices haven’t and won’t come down. And there have been huge recriminations against policymakers, both the Biden administration and the Federal Reserve, either for supposedly causing the bout of inflation or at any rate failing to prevent it.

Here, however, is a case where the similarities between the wealthiest nations are more revealing than their differences. Inflation surged almost everywhere after the pandemic. And if you take care to compare “ apples to Äpfel ” — to use the same consumer price measures — inflation has been remarkably similar in different countries. Since the eve of the pandemic, the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices has risen 19.6 percent in the United States and 19.8 percent in the euro area. This strongly suggests that pandemic-related disruptions, rather than national policies, were inflation’s main driver.

Still, inflation rankles voters. Even when income growth exceeds inflation, as it has in the United States , people tend to feel that they earned their higher wages only to have them snatched away by higher prices. And this is probably the most important reason that, according to tracking polls conducted by Morning Consult, every single leader of a Group of 7 nation is underwater, with more voters disapproving than approving of their leadership.

So who’s the winner of this unpopularity contest? Who has the least bad net approval? The answer is Joe Biden, with Giorgia Meloni of Italy a close second. The other Group of 7 leaders are even more unpopular. And this has political consequences. The U.S. election, worryingly, looks like a tossup, but in Britain, which must hold a general election by January, current projections say that Rishi Sunak’s extremely low approval is setting the stage for the virtual collapse of the Conservative Party.

Now, you could (and I would) say that Biden should be doing better in the polls given the economic and social fundamentals: very low unemployment, fairly low inflation and violent crime on the decline. And the United States does seem to stand out for the extent to which voters insist that the economy is bad even as they say they themselves are doing well.

But every political analysis that says the fault for Biden’s low approval lies with the president and his campaign — that he’s too old (although that narrative, after suddenly peaking, mostly faded away after his State of the Union address) or is out of touch with the concerns of “real” Americans — needs to explain why he’s doing less badly than his foreign peers.

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Paul Krugman has been an Opinion columnist since 2000 and is also a distinguished professor at the City University of New York Graduate Center. He won the 2008 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his work on international trade and economic geography. @ PaulKrugman