"Must the Jobless Also Be Hopeless?"

The article "Must the Jobless Also Be Hopeless?" by David Moberg, discusses unemployment in America. The article first talks about four people, who all had been released from prison and how unemployment was the cause of them being arrested. Because they were unemployed, they had to resort to theft, drug dealing, forgery, and shoplifting. The article continues on describing the people who are unemployed. These people range from non-high school graduates to people with exemplary workers and even people with college degrees. Next, the term "long term unemployment" is defined. To be officially declared long term unemployed, workers have to be unemployed for six months or more. The rate of long-term unemployment has increased since the 1970s. A suprising fact is that long-term unemployment has increased the most for workers with college degrees or experienced workers. The article next describes the affect of unemployment on the society. Research has shown that unemployment is directly linked to higher suicide rates, declining health, more divorces, increased depression and stress, and increased crime and social violence. Unemployment affects all people, regardless of education, skill level, and work history. Then, the articles talks about the middle class and how they are affected by job loss. These workers find it hard to find similar jobs and most resort to multiple jobs, lower wages and part-time jobs. Lastly the article describes various organizations and programs that try to help the unemployed. Groups and organizations like the Michael Barlow Center and Heartland Alliance help people by educating people about resources, alternatives, and options they have before they are laid off and by helping them gain more or different skills.This article about unemployment relates to Michael Moore's Roger & Me by the issue of unemployment itself and everything that comes with it. In the case of Flint, Michigan, 30,000 workers were unemployed. This had an impact on the people and the society, and this is what the article is talking about. Many unemployed people, including those in Flint, had to seek other employment opportunities. Most of them never found jobs within their community or they had to settle for lower wages. Because of unemployment, the people and community were affected. As shown in Flint, crime rates increased, there were more violence, and more and more people were getting evicted. When I read the article's title, I kind of had a different interpretation of what the article was going to be like. I thought that the article was going to discuss different examples of people who were unemployed at point but found different jobs. The article kind of hit that subject but then I thought it mostly talked about the negative side of unemployment instead of giving hope to people that they too can find another job.