Social Welfare Policy in the US Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Social Welfare Policy in the US - Assignment Example There was also an indication of the growth of private employment in a period of 54 months after the enactment of the Recovery Act by Obama and the Congress in February 2008. The second part looked into the effect of the recession on the economy, and it was notable that the GDP was far below what the economy was potentially able to produce. Job losses were never known before. With the recession ending in June 2009, the unemployment rate in August was still at 6.1% confirming high rates of unemployment. The distribution of jobs in the population fell to levels that had not been witnessed since the 1980s. The recession also caused a long-term unemployment rate rise to levels never witnessed in six decades with levels of 1.9% in August 2009. The labor market was considerably affected by the unemployment rate reaching 12.0 percent in August 2014. Job seekers exceeded job opportunities at times with seven people seeking employment for a single job opening. The last part considers evaluating the extent of damage of the recession if the financial stabilization and the fiscal policies adopted were not used. It has been recorded that the GDP would have decreased with the absence of the recovery act and at the same time, the rate of unemployment would have increased considerably an estimation of 0.1 to 0.4% higher in 2010 if the recovery plan was not adopted. The Strength of this policy is that it offers the employed with financial protection thereby making sure that they are not financially exploited. The policy helps maintain financial levels that can effectively better the lives of citizens through better incomes. The policy sets a minimum amount wage for other state governments and thereby universally protecting the citizens from poor pays. The Weaknesses of this policy is that employees may be compelled to raise their prices to customers in order to cover the high wages  making the policy less effective.