According to macroeconomic theory, increase or decrease of the wages in the labour market can be caused by a various number of reasons, economic and social. However, the prevalence or decrease in the wages in any given country has a number of effects on the socio-economic aspect of the country. One of the effects of a decrease in wages is the increase of the crime rate. In this paper, I shall look at the relationship between level of wages and the crime rates. In the paper, focus will be directed to Kenya, a country in East Africa.
Assumptions
Before analysis of the data, it is important to outline the assumptions applied in analysis.
- An increase in unemployment leads to a corresponding increase in crime rates.
Frequency of the number of offenses reported per year
Discussion
According to the data given, the following points, conclusions and inferences can be made:
The total number of crime or offense reported within the country seemed to increase every year with the exception of 2010, where reported offences dropped by 1,476. This could be due to a number of reasons, for example increased number of security initiatives by the police.
Most provinces in the country experience a reported number of offences between 8,001 and 10,000.
A few number of regions experience abnormal crime rates that range from 18,001 to 20,000 reported offences. These regions can be considered insecure and are therefore the outliers for this data set.
The year 2011 saw a rapid increase in the total number of reported offenses. This can be attributed to the fact that in that year 5 regions experienced reported offences ranging from 8,001 to 10,000. This is an increase from the previous year’s 4 regions that experienced the same number of reported offences. This can be presumed to be Nyanza Province.
EMPLOYMENT RATES IN KENYA (2008-2011)
Discussion
Most individuals are employed in the informal sector.
Most sectors employ zero to 200,000 people.
Employment in most of the sectors steadily grew from 2008 to 20011.
Even though employment increased, wages reduced drastically from 2008 to 2011. This can be due to a number of reasons. For example, increase in the rate of inflation or an increase in the availability of labour, causing a decrease in wages earned per unit of labour.
COMPARISON OF THE TWO PHENOMENA
Discussion
According to the scatter graph above, there is a clear and distinct relationship between the level of real average earnings and the number of reported offences. With decreasing real average earnings, the number of reported offences increases.
Conclusion
Real average earnings within any country directly influences the number of reported offences. Crime is motivated by income and wealth, when individuals feel there is need to accumulate more wealth or the simple need to make a living due to various economic factors that create shortages like inflation, some resort to criminal acts to fill that gap. This project has clearly shown that as is in the case of Kenya.
Recommendation
This project and research is limited to the information provided by governments of the countries in question. There is need for further research to help develop a mathematical model that can clearly relate the two phenomena by factoring in all the necessary variables like inflation.
Works Cited
Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. Kenya Facts and Figures 2012. Nairobi: KNBS, 2012.
Lipsey, R. G., K. A. Chrysta and Lipsey-Chrystal. Economics. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2007.
Taylor, R. and P. Saunders. The price of prosperity: The economic and social costs of unemployment. Sydney: Univ. of New South Wales Press, 2002.
