1 00:00:05,300 --> 00:00:08,000 We are starting today with a new topic. 2 00:00:08,920 --> 00:00:11,320 Our new topic is unemployment. 3 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:18,940 Unemployment is a subject, is a theme that is very often developed 4 00:00:19,140 --> 00:00:19,900 in the media. 5 00:00:20,660 --> 00:00:28,600 This is why we have to deal with it and we have to understand the topic, 6 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:33,300 what it involves, all that in the English language. 7 00:00:35,300 --> 00:00:41,220 So what we can say about unemployment is that it tells a lot about the 8 00:00:41,420 --> 00:00:43,560 health of the economy of the country. 9 00:00:44,820 --> 00:00:50,460 In other words, unemployment is 10 00:00:50,660 --> 00:00:56,460 correlated to the GDP, which means that if the GDP is good, 11 00:00:57,880 --> 00:01:00,560 we will see, we will observe a rise of employment. 12 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:06,880 And in times of recession, what very often we observe is a 13 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:10,580 decline of employment and a rise of unemployment. 14 00:01:11,620 --> 00:01:15,120 So two terms, unemployment and employment. 15 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:22,580 However, sometimes it is more tricky than that. 16 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:29,920 And I would like us to go back to history, 2018, a few years ago, 17 00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:33,000 during the presidency of Donald Trump. 18 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:39,800 If we look at the unemployment rate in the United States during 19 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:44,580 the presidency of Donald Trump, we can see that the unemployment 20 00:01:44,780 --> 00:01:45,860 rate was very low. 21 00:01:46,060 --> 00:01:47,680 It was four percent. 22 00:01:48,260 --> 00:01:57,820 Four percent of unemployment is what economists call full employment. 23 00:01:58,020 --> 00:02:03,180 Full employment means that the vast majority of the people of 24 00:02:03,380 --> 00:02:05,900 the country is at work. 25 00:02:06,500 --> 00:02:12,200 Of course, it is impossible in a country to reach zero percent. 26 00:02:12,400 --> 00:02:20,920 So four percent is perceived as what we call full employment. 27 00:02:21,780 --> 00:02:31,940 But when we try to have a closer look at the jobs that President 28 00:02:32,140 --> 00:02:37,220 Trump created, we start asking ourselves questions. 29 00:02:37,420 --> 00:02:42,640 Most of the jobs were very precarious jobs, very low-paid jobs, 30 00:02:43,660 --> 00:02:49,860 and many citizens in the United States were in part-time jobs while 31 00:02:50,060 --> 00:02:52,020 they were looking for full-time jobs. 32 00:02:52,260 --> 00:02:59,680 So it means that very often they had to work many hours just to 33 00:02:59,880 --> 00:03:02,960 get enough money to live on. 34 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:08,800 So which means that looking at the unemployment rate does not 35 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:14,200 always tell us the truth about the health of the economy of a country. 36 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:17,660 So this is the first thing I wanted to mention. 37 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:22,600 And for you to better understand the phenomenon, I would like you 38 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:24,480 to think about Uber. 39 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:30,780 Today we have Uber Eats, we have Uber Drive, there are different 40 00:03:30,980 --> 00:03:31,760 forms of Uber. 41 00:03:34,380 --> 00:03:41,540 This is a tricky system in the sense that we've got to understand 42 00:03:41,740 --> 00:03:48,110 that unemployment is no longer perceived as it used to be. 43 00:03:48,540 --> 00:03:50,440 I'm going to take this example. 44 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:58,500 Now, if you've got a mobile phone and you are connected on the Internet, 45 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:03,720 and you can ride a bike and you have a bike, you have no excuse. 46 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:11,080 Anyone can work doing Uber Eats, Uber anything, delivery, 47 00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:15,860 because you have no excuse to stay at home. 48 00:04:16,780 --> 00:04:26,080 Because what it requires to work as a Uber worker is just to be 49 00:04:26,280 --> 00:04:33,780 connected through your phone and also to be able to ride a bike. 50 00:04:36,020 --> 00:04:39,040 So I would like you to think about all this. 51 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:42,740 I took the example of the United States, but the United States is 52 00:04:42,940 --> 00:04:49,520 not the only country to have developed the system that is going to reduce 53 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:54,440 the rate of unemployment. 54 00:04:55,120 --> 00:05:02,560 Many countries are using different techniques so that the unemployment 55 00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:04,040 rate declines. 56 00:05:07,320 --> 00:05:12,440 Regarding employment and unemployment, we have to look at other things, 57 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:15,140 especially what happened very recently. 58 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:19,600 When I say very recently, I think about two or three years 59 00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:23,340 ago during the COVID-19 pandemic. 60 00:05:24,740 --> 00:05:30,180 It seems that if we look at what happened and if we look at the 61 00:05:30,380 --> 00:05:38,040 statistics and figures, the unemployment rate has changed 62 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:39,400 its meaning. 63 00:05:39,600 --> 00:05:41,840 I'm going to try to be clear here. 64 00:05:42,780 --> 00:05:48,900 Many people found themselves unemployed, not because they were 65 00:05:49,100 --> 00:05:56,680 looking for jobs, but because they had chosen to be out of work. 66 00:05:58,300 --> 00:06:02,980 It seemed that the COVID-19 had an impact on society and many people 67 00:06:03,180 --> 00:06:08,560 realized that working was no longer 68 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:10,200 a priority in their lives. 69 00:06:11,060 --> 00:06:15,100 So this one has to be taken into consideration when we look at the 70 00:06:15,300 --> 00:06:16,060 unemployment rate. 71 00:06:16,260 --> 00:06:19,640 In the UK, for example, I'm going to take the case of the UK. 72 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:29,800 If we look at the unemployment rate, it has declined recently due to 73 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:31,700 the effect of Brexit. 74 00:06:32,530 --> 00:06:39,540 With Brexit, many EU citizens who were not British decided to leave 75 00:06:39,740 --> 00:06:44,740 the UK and go back home to their countries. 76 00:06:45,340 --> 00:06:52,540 France, Spain, Portugal and many other eastern countries as well. 77 00:06:52,740 --> 00:07:00,080 So this is for us to understand that the figures that are shown 78 00:07:00,280 --> 00:07:08,340 through the statistics sometimes hide something that we have to explain. 79 00:07:09,260 --> 00:07:12,520 Thank you for your listening. 80 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:13,720 See you next time.