There is a direct correlation between high unemployment rates and overpopulation. More often than not, when a country’s population increases, the number of jobs available does not change. Therefore, a larger number of people begin fighting for the same jobs. Clearly, this poses a problem for individuals and families. The United States saw the worst unemployment rate since the recession of 1981-1982 when the Great Recession of 2008 hit. In October 2009, the United States hit 10% unemployment and saw the loss of 8.4 million jobs across the nation. It was absolutely devastating.

Luckily, since the recession hit, unemployment has decreased. However, it is still over 5%. In fact, unemployment rates around the world are higher than many would like for them to be.

 

This chart illustrates global unemployment rates from 2013. That year, global unemployment jumped by more than five million people. In 2011, the global population hit seven billion — a number that the US Census Bureau didn’t estimate to happen until 2012. In fact, since 2011, the global population has increased by 3 million… and it just keeps growing.

With spikes in global population come spikes in global unemployment rates. Let’s take a look at Spain in particular. Spain has a startlingly high unemployment rate — as of 2014, it was at 26%. According to Oxford University, there are five reasons for this: rigid labor market laws, reliance on “brick and mortar” jobs, banking corruption, a flawed education system, and (you guessed it) an influx in population, primarily from immigrants looking for work. Unfortunately, much of the companies that these immigrants were hoping to gain employment with were no longer around after 2009, when Spain began slowing down on the number of houses and businesses that were being built. Therefore, when these huddled masses arrived, there wasn’t just no where to work — there was no where to live.

Spain isn’t the only country suffering from high unemployment rates. In fact, oddly enough, a majority of global countries with high unemployment rates are some of the most developed nations in the world — the United States, France, Ireland, Germany, and Canada also have exceptionally high unemployment rates for the amount of businesses in these countries.

Unemployment isn’t the only serious consequence of overpopulation. Underemployment is another issue. Underemployment basically means that, an individual with a college degree or years of experience in a given field, will sometimes have to take jobs that are entry-level or far below what their experience or degrees warrant, simply so that they can have a steady income. Often, these jobs are underpaid and overworked. According to Slate, underemployment rates in the United States are more than twice that of unemployment rates.

Even sadder to note is that these jobs are highly competitive — despite being far below what some people are qualified to do. Although some unemployment rates (including the United States’) have dropped over the last two years, this is still a global crisis that was caused by overpopulation and a solution needs to be addressed before homeless rates increase as well.