Unemployment as Measure of Welfare

Unemployment as a Measure of Welfare Unemployment, as defined in books, is a situation wherein a person is jobless but is actively looking for work. To get the unemployment rate, we divide the total number of unemployed to the total labor force. Unemployment rate is sometimes used to determine the economic growth of a country.
Unemployment has remained high in the Philippines for the past years. Since unemployment means no job, it is usually believed to be the cause of poverty. Our government has been focusing on implementing projects to reduce the unemployment rate. However, despite the effort, the country still suffers from poverty. You could say that, unemployment is a cause of poverty, but it is not the only cause. It is true that most people suffer from poverty because they are jobless, but not all unemployed are poor. In fact, according to the discussion paper, the poverty incidence is lowest among the poor, and majority of the poor belong to the employed.
In some countries, unemployed people usually receive benefits and assistance from their government. Since these benefits are usually below the average wage, these unemployed people are considered part of the lower- class population. On the other hand, for people who work part – time, the benefits are better options (since their wage is lower than the amount of the benefits) thus, discouraging them to continue working. This proves that even if people are unemployed it does not mean that they are poor. There are also instances wherein unemployed people could still support themselves even if they are jobless. If they already belong to the higher class of the population, being unemployed is not a problem.
However, in our country, the government has no system that provides unemployment benefits. This means that people in the lower class have to keep themselves employed to be able to sustain their needs. This will force them to accept jobs at a lower wage. It will keep them from being unemployed, but