Classical Argument Position Paper on the Level of Unemployment in the Future World

The human fate is entwined with an inescapable future of unemployment, whereby in the next 50 years unemployment in the world will be uncontrollable. It is an impending crisis which the humanity has orchestrated by a combination of several misinformed choices and way of life. These factors which have and will continue to play a negative contribution unless addressed include; concrete dependency on formal education for employment, the rapid increase in population across the globe and increased automation of processes and increased machine operation. These factors are the core reasons why I firmly believe that most humans will be without jobs in future, but the good news is that this unfortunate future is not cast in stones and measures can be put in place to avert the impending crisis.

The primary reason why I believe that concrete dependency on formal education for employment will be a contributing factor towards the uncontrollable unemployment rates in the future is based on data available and statistical predictions. I raise this point, as a person who understands the value and the importance of education in the society, I am conscious of the idea that education has long been associated as a critical factor to success in life. Therefore, my arguments are based on credible information and personal experience that I have with learning and the mentality behind formal education. As an experienced scholar, I have noted with concern that there has been a sharp increase in literacy levels worldwide, whereby in back in the 1820s, barely 12% of humans in the world were learned. However, in the world today this number has increased to about 87% (Roser & Esteban, 2018). Further research has determined that there has been a steady increase of 4% in literacy lever for the past 65 years. Therefore going by these projections, the literacy levels in the next 50 years will be cross to 100% around the world. This means that the high number of scholars will be struggling to get the little employment opportunities available (Robinson, 2016).

Secondly, the expanding population has a role to play in the future woes that will befall humanity. This is because the rate in which the human population across the globe is increasing is both drastic and alarming where an estimate of about 80 million people are born annually (Wicks, 2017). The increase in population offsets the rules of supply and demand, where there will be an oversupply of labor and a decline in demand. As a result, people will be having problems securing decent jobs, and when they finally get these jobs, the bargaining power will be reduced due to the high number of people willing to take up the same position for less favorable conditions. Increase in population will also lead to less pay, and thus significantly reducing the living standards where the breadwinner of the family will not be able to support the enormous family suing the little cash paid at work. Assuming the rates of inflation continues to skyrocket as they have been for the past century, people have every reason to worry of what the future has in store for them.

The third primary reason why I predict uncontrollable unemployment in the next 50 years is the increased automation process and machine operations. By automating the activities which were previously done by humans, it significantly reduces the number of people needed to perform a task and making people lose their jobs. Recent inventions have created automated robots which have taken over the positions that people used to do, and this has decreased the demand for a workforce (Kessler, 2017). With the future inventions aiming at making dynamic, and sophisticated machinery, better and efficient machines are inevitable, and thus the decline in employment opportunity will only get worse.

It is vital to note that there are people who have refuted this fact and are optimistic that humanity will devise a way to cope with the growing challenge of unemployment. Such people have based their arguments based on several assumptions such as believing that formal education is not a bad idea and that increased automation of protocols is not disadvantageous. The critiques have further urged that by raising the levels of literacy, people's lives will be improved and there will be innovations and human development. On the other hand, they have celebrated automation as a pinnacle of humankind achievement, and a clear indication that humans are a superior race.

These assumptions are however inaccurate and misinformed. They fail to acknowledge hard evidence which is already evident as a result of the strong emphasis on formal education and increased automation. Formal training mostly focuses on preparing the scholar for employment; therefore when everyone gets a formal education, they will be hoping to secure good jobs once they are done with schools. On the other hand, automation has reduced the production cost but has dramatically brought about underemployment and unemployment. The advancement in technology only promises future tragedy where more and better machines will perform tasks which should be done by people (Kessler, 2017). In the real sense, automation has not reduced the cost of production because buying and maintaining these machines is very expensive.

Conclusion

In conclusion, to avoid this unfortunate destiny human must put in place concrete steps. First, the education system must be changed where equal emphasis is put on both formal and informal education. The mindset of the students must be tuned from learning to get employed to an innovative mindset. By encouraging innovation and creativity, people will create self-employment opportunities and thus creating better chances for other people to get work. The next step will be to control the human population to a manageable level; this will be tasked to the government to educate the citizens on the importance and ways of birth control so that parents can have an ideal number of children that they can raise. And lastly, despite the human inventions, machines should not replace humans in our factories and industries. Guidelines must be put in place to limit the excessive dependency on devices at the expense of human employment. These steps will be essential at averting the impending crisis of uncontrollable unemployment in the immediate future.

References

Kessler Sarah. Mar 9, 2017. The Optimist's Guide to the Robot Apocalypse. Retrieved from https://qz.com/904285/the-optimists-guide-to-the-robot-apocalypse/

Robinson Kenneth. Mar12, 2016. Do Schools Kill Creativity- TED Talks (English subtitles). Retrieved from http://youtu.be/tQzC7ubJriE

Roser Max & Esteban Ortiz-Ospina. Sep 20, 2018. Literacy. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/literacy

Wicks Diana. Sep 26, 2017. Causes of Overpopulation That Affect Unemployment. Retrieved from https://bizfluent.com/info-8709233-causes-overpopulation-affect-unemployment.html