Unemployment has all the times been a chronic problem globally, with reports issued on regular bases in various countries of the world indicating that its percentages are either dipping or rising. These fluctuations indicate that there are never totally healthy economies since many are prone to deteriorate which wreaks havoc on the entire populations. There is not any country in the world that is free from this chronic problem even in the countries that claim maintaining healthy economies.
Unemployment has sustainably been a major root cause of chronic problems that societies suffer from. The spiking global rates of unemployment are ascribed to climate change, wars, and scientific advancement which replaces humans with machines, foremost of which is artificial intelligence as well as the unplanned rise in populations. Stories are frequently reverberated nowadays about university graduates who spend large sums of money to acquire education in the hope that it would ensure them a promising future and a bright life. Yet, after graduation, they realize that the job market is oversaturated to the point that they have to look for other jobs that do not comply with their fields of specialization or rather remain jobless for years awaiting open opportunities to come but still with little hope in the offing.
In a message addressed on 13 December 2023 to participants of the second edition of "LaborDì” --which is a workshop for generating employment," promoted by Christian Associations of Italian workers-- His Holiness Pope Francis reflected on challenges faced, especially by new generations, in the job market, and decried what he called a "void of work" that plagues the lives of so many, especially young people, and said the absence of employment constitutes a wound to human dignity.
He also reflected on the destabilizing effect of precarious employment, where individuals find themselves on unstable ground, balancing between internships, temporary positions, and part-time jobs. Pope Francis also mentioned the struggles faced by young people, compelled to fight for their rights even before entering the workforce, and questioned the feasibility of entering the "construction site of work" with dignity when the journey through education and specialization demands a constant battle for basic necessities.
Unemployment negatively impacts the peoples and shoves them into a world of emptiness as the unemployed feel that they sink in the abyss of an alien world that rejects them despite the faculties they acquired in their years of hard work manifested in the assiduous efforts they exerted in studying at universities or the crafts they acquired in life.
Actually, with eradicating or rather containing unemployment crises, the dignity of people is preserved as finding jobs after long years of study is not a favor but rather an indispensable need as this eliminates numerous social ills such as robbery, crimes, addictions to alcoholism or drugs, mental and social problems leading to diseases such as suicide, and on top of this is terrorism. These are some social diseases that are caused by unemployment.
It is noticeable that violence and crimes are widespread in countries where the percentages of unemployment hit high records and when governments deal inefficiently with this soaring problem without providing a suitable panacea.
This is the right time to thoroughly try to solve this problem that has been pending for a long time. With open job opportunities that fit the graduates' fields of study, they attain an opportunity to excel in life and consequently enrich societies with new generations who are energetic and capable to shoving their homelands into new spheres of progress through thick and thin.
