Compare the Economies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Compare the Economies - Essay Example Examining unemployment levels is one important way of looking at the reason behind the reported high poverty levels in a country. The unemployment level for this purpose shall refer to the number of non-working (and therefore unproductive) individuals who are of working age (usually 15 years old and above). The number of people in a given population without jobs indicates the type of labor force the country has. Unemployment rates may invoke questions such as "Why aren't there enough jobs for everyone of working age" "Are there not enough business enterprises or investments in the country that contribute to job creation" or "If there are available jobs, why aren't the people employed" "Do people choose not to work at all" or "Are there issues in literacy and education as well" In addition, trends in unemployment levels may indicate how a country is progressing in terms of its growth and development. Since Vietnam and the Philippines are still in their developing stages, the unemploym ent level could be an important indicator of how well and how fast they are achieving their development goals. In summary, a country's unemployment rate may provide a lot of insights on its economic growth and development. High unemployment rates could only mean two things:... High unemployment rates could only mean two things: either job seekers could not be given the jobs they are looking for or people simply do not want to work, that is, participate in the labor force. Given the status of the two countries chosen for this assignment as being underdeveloped and having large populations under the poverty line, it is highly unlikely that people in these two nations would not want to work and earn income at all. The latter type of situation is more likely to occur in highly developed countries wherein governments can provide for substantial subsidies for their citizens living allowances. In the case of Vietnam and the Philippines, both countries barely have enough financial resources to offer free education to the public, much less to provide for the daily needs of their poor. Thus, unemployment in this context shall be focused on not having enough jobs for qualified job seekers. A country's economy is usually gauged as positive or negative in terms of what goods and services it produces, how much of these are actually produced, how these goods and services are produced and for whom and how production rates can grow over a period of time. Simply put, a country's economic growth largely depends on its capacity to produce. Productivity in turn is influenced or affected by the availability and utilization of capital, natural resources and the labor force, among others. In order to produce goods and services, there must be work involved in the process and work is done by skillful and knowledgeable workers, which constitute the labor force. Thus, all things being equal, if more people are able to work, more goods and services may be produced and if there is a constant increase in the number of people who work, steady productivity