Faced with various differences, changes, and challenges, societies find it necessary to have social integration. Any society is consists of diverse social institutions and factors – politics, religion, ethnicity, education, business organizations, and other national/international matters – that could keep every individual and groups from being united. In the European Union’s Economic and Social Integration, the slogan “unity in diversity” suggests that individuals and groups coming from the various states and regions should be joined together into one multileveled European society (Schiek, 2012). Social integration does not imply joining of people into a homogenous entity; it merely suggests that despite their [essential] differences, diverse individuals and groups will be together in some specific social thinking – which seeks to be for the good of everyone in general. It does not require every individual or group to abandon their foundational principles and system, but only suggests that they be of one accord – helping out according to what support they can give – for the fulfilment of national/global concern(s).
These days, this integration is required specifically in regards to unemployment of many individuals – within [both] national and international contexts. Unified efforts to deal with unemployment in society are necessary. Throughout the years, global economy becomes at stake when depression happen – leaving countless people desperately burdened with their employment as well. For instance, it is reported that since the 2007-2009 recession in America, the rate for unemployed rose from 0.1 percent to 7.9 in January (Reuters, 2013). This therefore, brings out the necessity of applying social integration.
Now when it comes to social integration in the context of employment, the main objective is to deal with what we call as “social exclusion”. It is the state of individuals who lack permanent job – making them excluded from being socially entitled and privileged as employed people. More than 50 years ago, Lord Beveridge became known for his work regarding social integration – particularly unemployment. For him, there are only three main causes of unemployment: lack of effective demand, industrial change, and the resulting need to relocate (Schmid & Gazier, 2002). These are the primary challenges in aiming social integration. Qualified workers may be in great number but if there is only a little need for them, jobs would not be available still. Also, industrial change will always be present. People would always want further development, and technology is one. In turn, some negative things happen. For instance, present jobs would be required to change, making the skills of the current workers no longer useful – leading to unemployment. Moreover, relocation is still another challenge. A worker, for instance, when he/she relocated, will certainly find it hard to fit in to the new sphere of workplace and society. Therefore, if the demand falls, the industry changes, and the people will be required to relocate, ‘social exclusion’ becomes present.
In light of this, there are two main perspectives developed: the universal basic income and the employment subsidy. The universal basic income idea suggests that there should be an equal allotment of income to every worker in a society. The main intervention is to give everyone a minimum income regardless of situation, abilities, and work efforts (Schmid & Gazier, 2002). In this way, since the money will be allotted equally, companies will able to compensate more workers – which, in turn, allow more people to take jobs. However, one great disadvantage in this integration model is “lack of progress”. Skilled workers will not have significant reason to give out more of what they can, since the reward will be the same as to those who make less effort. As a result, the entire system of operation will not grow. The employment subsidy, on the one hand, deals more with the fulfilling reward to those who work skilfully. In this way, workers will be more passionate to give effort since the compensation is highly rewarding. Nevertheless, what happens is that less people will be given high-paying jobs and that less qualified workers will not be needed – still resulting into unemployment. In a glance, therefore, the challenge for social integration – in dealing with unemployment – is the development of an all-in-one system – one that allows everyone to have full-time jobs that on the other hand would not result into a lack of industrial progress.
In addition, another factor that determines the social exclusion of some are the ‘standards’ set by industrial demands and the diverse capabilities of the available workers. This includes gender, physical conditions, age, education, and so on. For example, education serves as a big factor when building one’s career/profession. Therefore, as the standard of industry requires that each worker has definite set of knowledge and skills gained through formal education, it affects one employment status and employment benefits. As one writer suggests, the evaluation of education necessary not only as a labor market measures but also as a social policy standard helps the young people to deal with the problems regarding unemployment and social exclusion (Hammer, 2003). And this results into an increased motivation to have complete formal training/education. However, the point here is that employment and the extent of its benefits are also determined by the social/industrial standards and the condition of the workers.
Regarding this, the government and other social leaders have somehow developed certain things included in integration of which one is the bills/laws. Social integration in employment of the people cannot be separated from the political standards or the social values of any society. One example is the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), which forbids any private and public company or organization to unjustly treat people with physical impairment. Unjust treatment could be the giving of less compensation due to the impairment, and the termination or refusal of application due to the disability – even if the person if qualified for the job anyway. Companies are required to make necessary modifications in their policies, practices, and standards to allow such persons to afford goods, services, accommodations and other benefits (Jones, 2003). In this way, even people with serious impairment will be given jobs that will allow them to fulfil their needs in life. Such approach – linking social integration to political/legal and social standards – is a good one since it imposes even to the private and public sectors the ‘spirit’ of making ways to allow everyone to have jobs. It is an interpersonal, social, economical, and legal integration.
In response to the various considerations above, the implementation of social integration for employment globally requires ‘unified individualization’ among the nations. The pluralist perspective of social integration is that social integration would be achieved from the need of interaction between members of society resulting from its diversities in modernity and beyond (Schiek, 2012). There must be ‘globalization’. Although some disadvantages may be present, outsourcing jobs should be made available. There should also be ‘identity’. Each nation should determine what specific global demand they could supply, and they should make “greater” efforts to fulfil that demand. For example, if the nation is more inclined with agricultural industry, it should pursue further agrarian development. When it comes to implementing social integration locally, there must be the provision of local jobs. Whether it is high-skilled or low-skilled labor, there are still people who would prefer working at the home country than migrate and work abroad. Also, even local government should seek ways to develop the economic security in local jobs as well as the social welfare of local workers. Linking other social factors with employment, local crimes should be lessened, social and political policies should be refined, and so on. Lastly, there must be accountability for each public sector, making sure that they make the appropriate things to provide jobs for everyone in society.
References
Hammer, T. (2003). Youth unemployment and social exclusion in Europe. UK: The Policy Press.
Jones, N. (2003). The American with disabilities act (ADA): Overview, regulations, and interpretations. New York, NY: Nova Science Publishers.
Reuters (2013, February 14). Jobless claims fall more than expected. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/15/business/economy/jobless-claims- in-us-fall-more-than-expected.html
Schiek, D. (2012). Economic and social integration: The challenge for UE constitutional law. UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Schmid G., & Gazier, B. (2002). The dynamics of full employment: Social integration through transitional labour markets. UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
