Employment and Society
Employment isn’t always guaranteed. For most of us, we will have a variety of jobs over our lifetime, some we love and some we won’t, but we’ll take on the tasks nonetheless. The size of workforces changes each year with new companies being set up, old companies closing down, global events, and of course technology becoming usable and on the market. For example, the financial crash of 2008 led to many businesses losing vast amounts of money and individuals losing assets. That financial crisis hit hard, and after three years of turbulence, the unemployment rate peaked in September 2011. The employment rate was 8.3% across the UK. It has since been on the decline, but of course 2020 saw the latest rise in unemployment due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
There are many different types of employment, and increased training opportunities for future roles is coming from Apprenticeship training providers.
FULL-TIME EMPLOYMENT – The most common type of employment. Full-time employees will usually do around 30–40-hour weeks, with a specified amount of time off.
PART-TIME EMPLOYMENT – Part-time employees will work a few hours every week. This is usually younger people looking to get a full-time job.
SELF-EMPLOYMENT – Self-employment is when you have no boss, or you are your own boss. Self-employed individuals are usually the owners of a business, or people in the arts industry like musicians, actors, writers and directors.
FREELANCE or CONTRACT– Freelancers are similar to self-employed individuals; in that they are their own boss and decide what work they do. However, they will usually commit to many small-term contracted jobs rather than long-term contracts.
The current state of society in this country and many others around the world relies on having good employment rates. It’s undeniable that this will change over time with things like technology, however, the need for employment now is very important. Having high employment rates can reduce inequality and poverty from those who are unemployed. It can also have benefits to you as an individual. You will gain more financial income through having a job and it can improve your mental and physical wellbeing, many companies also offer health and life insurance incentives.
All of these come from being employed in regular work, which in turn can help improve society. The thing we have to think about is how that’s going to change, now that the world is becoming more interconnected, where technologies and A.I.’s are becoming the norm, and the future of work might be irreversibly changed.