Unemployment application Flashcards
(4 cards)
Detroit and structural unemployment
Detroit was once the heart of the U.S. car manufacturing industry, home to the “Big Three”: Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler.
As globalisation increased, car production became cheaper overseas due to lower wages and fewer regulations. Manufacturing jobs moved abroad, and companies began outsourcing.
Technological change also played a role, as automation reduced the need for human labour on production lines.
This caused a sharp decline in demand for low-skilled, manual labour in Detroit — a workforce heavily dependent on those types of jobs. Workers couldn’t easily transition to jobs in growing sectors like tech or healthcare.
Many people became structurally unemployed because their skills were no longer useful in the modern economy, and retraining programs were limited or ineffective.
Economic consequences of detroits structural unemployment problem
Economic Consequences:
High long-term unemployment
Increased poverty and crime rates
Population decline (Detroit’s population dropped from 1.8 million in the 1950s to under 700,000)
Urban decay and underinvestment
What is the current unemployment rate in the UK?
Unemployment Rate: 4.5% as of March 2025, the highest since 2021.
Number of Unemployed: Approximately 1.61 million people aged 16 and over.
What are the current trends in wage growth and inflation in the UK?
Wage Growth: Slowed to 5.6% in the three months to March 2025, down from 5.9% previously.
Inflation Rate: Approximately 2.6%, indicating that wage growth still outpaces inflation.
