CITIZENSHIP ANALYSIS OF UNEMPLOYMENT LEVELS IN UK, EUROPE, AND THE Essay

CITIZENSHIP ANALYSIS OF UNEMPLOYMENT LEVELS IN UK, EUROPE, AND THE WORLD - Essay Example e first time (4.1 per cent in Wales, 4.7 per cent in the U.K).4 Manufacturing plays a more prominent role in the Welsh economy than it does in the U.K economy as a whole; it accounts for 27.8 per cent of Welsh GDP compared to 20.8 per cent of U.K GDP.5 Secretary of State for Wales, Peter Hain said on 22nd March 2006: â€Å"There are 118,000 more people in jobs in Wales since 1997; the unemployment level is almost 40 per cent lower than in 1997; and the 34 per cent growth in exports between 1999 and 2005 has outperformed the U.K average of 25.6 per cent.†6 Comparative unemployment levels in Europe and the World Western Europe: The Welsh unemployment rate of 4.1 was lower only to Switzerland’s 3.8. Next came Norway and Ireland, both 4.2, followed by U.K 4.7, Luxembourg 4.9, Denmark 5.5, Sweden 6, the Netherlands 6.5, and Portugal 7.3. Italy and Finland both 7.9, Belgium 8.4, France 10, Spain 10.1, Greece 10.8 and Germany 11.6. Real Wage Unemployment (labour market fails to respond to demand): Governments combat it by reducing trade union powers, increasing companies’ abilities to change wages, and encouraging short- term contracts. Frictional Unemployment (ncomplete information in the labour market): Governments increasing knowledge of vacancies through ‘job centres’, and increasing the incentive to search for jobs (e.g. by reducing unemployment benefits; lowering taxes on wages). Geographical unemployment (inability of people to relocate from areas of low demand for labour to areas of high demand): Governments provide regional incentives for new businesses to locate in high unemployment areas, and reduce barriers to free movement of workers. Structural unemployment (inability of workers to change the kind of job they do {e.g. from IT to engineering}): Governments by provide incentives to retrain, and reduce geographical immobility (facilitating workers movement to areas where their skills are in high demand).9 In the United Kingdom during the