socio economic issues

Ammaarah kasmani

Grade 10

Life orientation
Assessment

Mr. R. Pillay

Development of the self in society

A. Unemployment.

1. Introduction

The problem of unemployment is one of the most serious long-term economic problem challenges in the past decades. Unemployment is a major cost to the economy not just in the terms of lost production, but it also involves major, long-term social cost such as increased inequality, poverty, family problems, crime and social division.

One of the major economic debates of recent decades has been what should be done in order to reduce unemployment. There are major differences of opinion among economists about both what has caused the increasing level of unemployment during recent years, and what policies that might be used to reduce unemployment in the years to come.

2. Causes of Unemployment

2.1. Lack of education:

Lack of education is major issue in our community and around the world. This is because of:
Poverty-
Parents cannot afford to send their children to better schools and provide them with sufficient education.

Lack of facilities at schools-
Schools that the poor send their children have no desks, chairs, books, etc. and these children cannot work under trees. There are on-going strikes that affect the students’ education.

Drugs-
Drugs have always been a major issue around the world. Students are exposed to drugs and there addiction leads them to dropping out of school and begin working in order to be able to afford more drugs.

Teenage pregnancy-
Teenage pregnancy is not always the cause of lack of education, where some girls abort the child and move on with their lives, others on the other hand do not have the “heart” to leave their child and thus leave school.

2.2. HIV/AIDS:

HIV/AIDS is a very common disease. Many people who have this disease remain unemployed due to the inability to work, remain focus and provide the best quality of work required by the business. Businesses need to move on in order to make a profit and cannot depend on workers with HIV/AIDS who miss work often and cannot keep up with the standards of work that is expected.

3. The impact of unemployment

3.1. Local communities

Poverty has a direct impact on the economy. An increase in the number of unemployed people leads to an increase in the number of people who are dependent on social assistance/welfare programs. In other countries such as South Africa, one would get a free house, free primary education, free health care and a limited amount of free electricity and water. This puts a large burden on the countries taxpayers and takes a huge chunk out of the countries budget. This coupled with the fact that we now have a reduced number of taxpayers.

3.2. Global communities

It causes high increase rate in poverty and crime. Unemployment adversely affects our community because less income is being brought into the community to spend at local shops and businesses. Also, there are more foreclosures bring property values down because less people can afford to pay the mortgage.
Poverty is already an issue around the world, unemployment contributes towards it in a pessimistic manner, where employment is supposed to reduce poverty, and the lack of employment is the main causes of poverty.
Crime is caused by both unemployment and poverty, the crime rates have been increasingly rapidly and statistics show that the main reason is unemployment and poverty.

4. How to combat unemployment

How I will address unemployment

-Essentially better education.
Protest and write letters to the government to use the tax money on better education for the under privileged and unfortunate.

-Investment to create more job opportunities.

-Fostering economic growth in the country.

-Tourism is a prominent job creator because of the many opportunities for semi skilled labor, and because South Africa 's people are inherently friendly and hospitable.

Where and how time will be utilized to address unemployment

The protests will take place in the local communities and many people will be addressed about this to create awareness about what negative aspects and/or impacts are made on the rest of the family of the unemployed person. As someone who feels that unemployment is the cause to many of our problems in South Africa such as; crime, violence, drug abuse, etc. something needs to be done about this contemporary social issue.

3 resources I need and how I will get them

I need:

Human Resources
Natural resources
Posters

Human Resources
I will achieve human resources by creating awareness of unemployment. Holding a small lecture or campaigns will show people how bad unemployment gets.
Natural resources
This will be obtained with the help of others who are interested in helping the unemployed a better life style.
Posters
Other campaigners and I will make the posters. The resources to make the posters will be provided by me.

How the plan will be monitored

We will request that the police and other security be there to assure no violence and crime. First everyone will be searched to assure no weapons are brought in.
Thereafter the program will commence and security guards will be outside to assure no violent people are allowed in and police inside to assure the security of the others as their security and safety is in my hands.

5. Challenges that may be encountered

The plan will be unsuccessful if people remain unaware of this situation. It is important we inform and create a good understanding about the lifestyles of unemployed people.
Another challenge that we may face is people not coming for the protests and campaigns.

The biggest problem is that people are ungrateful and inappreciative when it comes to luxury; they do not realize that all that luxury can be taken away from them and that maybe one day they may be in that situation. If people start to understand then they may also find ways to assist them.

6. Conclusion

In conclusion to the above research, we see that unemployment is a more serious issue in our community than we think. I learnt that if we research a certain topic and throw our minds to understanding the situation we can become more appreciative and grateful to what we have.

Bibliography

Bounds; Mallgee; Mayhew; Deventer (2011) Focus Business Studies, Johannesburg; Maskew Miller Longman

EssayLib (2011) Essay On Unemployment [WWW]. Available at http://www.essaylib.com/blog/free/unemployment-essay.html (accessed 24th August 2013).

Econ3X3 (2011) The unemployed in South Africa: Why are so many not counted? [WWW]. Available at http://www.econ3x3.org/article/unemployed-south-africa-why-are-so-many-not-counted (accessed 24th August 2013).

Google Baraza (2010) What Can Be Done To Reduce Unemployment In South Africa? [WWW]. Available at http://www.google.com/baraza/en/thread?tid=6b8bec558635fd1b (accessed 24th August 2013).

B. Poverty.

1. Introduction

Poverty! Poverty! Poverty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This has almost turned out to be a song in our community.
Poverty, as we are aware that almost the biggest percentage of the entire national population lives below the poverty line. One wonders about the cause of this situation and how it has spread quickly to reach all corners of this country.
Poverty strikes many people, both children and adults, all over the world. Within all communities, many different things and circumstances can affect poverty. In addition to that, there are also many items that come into play as a result of poverty itself.
2. Causes of Poverty

2.1. Lack of education:

Lack of education is major issue in our community and around the world. This is because of:
Poverty-
Parents cannot afford to send their children to better schools and provide them with sufficient education.

Lack of facilities at schools-
Schools that the poor send their children have no desks, chairs, books, etc. and these children cannot work under trees. There are on-going strikes that affect the students’ education.

Drugs-
Drugs have always been a major issue around the world. Students are exposed to drugs and there addiction leads them to dropping out of school and begin working in order to be able to afford more drugs.

Teenage pregnancy-
Teenage pregnancy is not always the cause of lack of education, where some girls abort the child and move on with their lives, others on the other hand do not have the “heart” to leave their child and thus leave school.

Without education one cannot get a job and thus there will be no income in the house and this leads to poverty.

2.2. Disease If someone retrieves an illness that cannot be cured then they lose their job because they will not be able to go to work and thus they will not receive salaries or wages. Some peoples salaries are too low for better medical treatment.

3. The impact of poverty

3.1. Local communities

Poverty has a direct impact on the economy. An increase in the number of unemployed people leads to an increase in the number of people who are dependent on social assistance/welfare programs. In other countries such as South Africa, one would get a free house, free primary education, free health care and a limited amount of free electricity and water. This puts a large burden on the countries taxpayers and takes a huge chunk out of the countries budget. This coupled with the fact that we now have a reduced number of taxpayers.

3.2. Global communities

Poverty forces more than a billion people to live in environments that are vulnerable to health risks, lacking shelter, food, water, sanitation or access to medical attention. Lack of clean water causing Diarrhoea and Cholera is one of the biggest killers worldwide, alongside malaria and HIV which are all more likely to occur in developing communities- but the broad scope and effects of ill health mean a concerted response to tackling the cycle of illness and poverty is largely missing. The effects of living in poverty have a dramatic impact on health, putting developing communities at risk through the increased sharing of limited space, lack of education on health issues, lack of healthcare, lack of housing, inadequate food and clean water and exposure to human and animal wastes that spread bacteria.
4. How to combat poverty

How I will address poverty

Have a charity organization. The charity will host charity runs and many people will send their old clothes and schoolbooks, etc. to the charity and these will be sent to orphans and the poor.
The organization will go to different schools to host charity runs and have a small talk or slideshow about poverty and how fortunate we are.

Where and how time will be utilized to address poverty

We will manage our time very carefully as we cannot delay any other activity. We will be busy holding talks and giving lectures, hosting charity runs and getting school students to do community service to the underprivileged.

3 resources I need and how I will get them

Human resources
This resource will be achieved by awakening the humanity in other people.

Venues
Talking to hall owners to do this for the poor and also allowing the talks for free and no such payment will be made.

Permission to go to schools
Talking to the school board and principal to get permission to talk to the learners making them aware about poverty.

5. Challenges that may be encountered

There will be many obstacles along the way, but we are determined to go through fire and ice and make people aware of poverty as they only see it, but we will talk to them in such away it will be as if they can feel it.

One problem that we may encounter is the unsupportive and heartless people who have been influenced by their wealth, but hopefully we will be able to win their hearts.

6. Conclusion

In conclusion to the above research, we see how serious this issue is and we will encounter poverty as much as we can. Living in South Africa and witnessing poverty everyday, everywhere I always try to help whenever I can.

Bibliography

Bounds; Mallgee; Mayhew; Deventer (2011) Focus Business Studies, Johannesburg; Maskew Miller Longman.
Hope Children’s Club (2009) Poverty In Our Community [WWW]. Available at http://childrensclub.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/poverty-in-our-community/ (accessed 24th August 2013)
Yahoo! Voices (2010) Poverty In Communities [Online]. Available at http://voices.yahoo.com/poverty-communities-2969035.html (accessed 4th September 2013)p

Bibliography: Bounds; Mallgee; Mayhew; Deventer (2011) Focus Business Studies, Johannesburg; Maskew Miller Longman. Hope Children’s Club (2009) Poverty In Our Community [WWW]. Available at http://childrensclub.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/poverty-in-our-community/ (accessed 24th August 2013) Yahoo! Voices (2010) Poverty In Communities [Online]. Available at http://voices.yahoo.com/poverty-communities-2969035.html (accessed 4th September 2013)p