Current Challenges in America
Without pro-trade policies that promote US corporations’ access to the world’s eight billion consumers, Americans will find themselves without work. Frustrations that once allowed workers to survive–like low pay and inadequate benefits–will become intolerable.
Focusing on these cross-cutting issues–COVID-19, economic recovery and racial equity–will lead to benefits across other areas as well.
1. Shifting Demographics and Labor Shortages|Current Challenges in America
As the world of work evolves, American businesses will need to adjust. This represents a tremendous challenge for business leaders and policymakers who must focus on getting more Americans into the labor force while simultaneously developing an adequate supply of workers with necessary skills that enable the expansion of our economy.
Agriculture, retailing, manufacturing and construction all rely heavily on experienced workers in these sectors for operating machinery and performing manual tasks. When they retire they will create shortages for firms relying on them for knowledge or expertise; moreover a declining birthrate and falling migration will mean less newcomers entering the workforce overall.
Current Challenges in America|North Carolina and Kentucky may accelerate these shifts by terminating extended benefits, which will deprive low-wage workers of the safety net that has allowed them to remain employed during the pandemic. Lower immigration could further delay labor market re-equilibration; businesses may have trouble meeting increased demand as economies expand.
This pandemic has highlighted the precarious state of US workforce diversity, which will only become more challenging over time. Immigrants account for nearly half of US workers and are over-represented among unemployed persons.
Though they have made considerable sacrifices and taken great risks to reach America, immigrants face many barriers that prevent them from contributing meaningfully to the economy. It is imperative that US government use their energies and resources dedicated to keeping migrants out to create legal pathways so that these migrants may quickly enter the workforce.
These measures will enable businesses to fill essential job vacancies, including those in healthcare (which is expected to grow by 3.2 million over the next five years), construction, transportation and food services. It will also alleviate shortages due to both aging workers as well as lack of young talent entering the labor force; time has come for loosening restrictions on gig work and flexible schedules and eliminating or minimizing potential cuts in retirement benefits and Current Challenges in America.
2. Rising Inequality and Threats to American Capitalism|Current Challenges in America
Rising inequality poses an existential threat to American capitalism. It undermines Americans’ trust and faith in free market institutions while depriving the economy of broad base demand that drives innovation that fuels economic expansion. Furthermore, inequality weakens intergenerational mobility–an essential aspect of living the American dream.
Policy makers need to reexamine the fundamental rules of economic play if we’re to find solutions to our current economic difficulties. They must dispel the widespread belief that inequality is inevitable in a modern economy that rewards certain skills while leaving others behind, instead looking more closely at deliberate choices which have suppressed wages and shifted wealth away from workers toward capital – such as refusing to raise the minimum wage; prioritizing corporate profits over worker rights during globalization processes; failing to defend workers’ right to organize and bargain collectively against employer assaults etc.
Recent polling indicates that 61% of American citizens feel there is too much inequality in America today, although opinions vary depending on political party and household income level. Republican leaners tend to believe there is the ideal amount of inequality while 78% of Democrats and Democratic leaners oppose any increase in inequality.
Though there are many approaches to solving the problem, one possible strategy could include changing tax laws to redistribute wealth and income more equitably. Another potential approach would be increasing civic engagement through education or voter registration initiatives. State and local governments can take an active role in devising innovative policies to meet these challenges where partisanship becomes less of an obstacle.
American capitalism faces complex challenges, which will require collaboration among politicians, political appointees, business leaders, civil servants and citizens in order to overcome. Though these problems won’t be completely solved by 2021 alone, they must be tackled now if our unique economic system is going to endure and flourish over time.
3. Globalization and Chinese Relations|Current Challenges in America
In the United States, debate about globalization often gets confused with concerns about China’s rise. Globalization has brought great advantages for higher-skilled workers engaged in lifelong learning and companies producing high technology goods and services; however, it has presented lower-skilled workers and firms producing lower technology goods with new challenges. Rising manufacturing job losses have contributed to populist political movements both in the U.S. and Europe, and research by economists David Autor and Gordon Hanson demonstrates that trade with China is one of the main culprits behind these job losses – in fact, more jobs were lost competing against Chinese manufacturers than were gained via trade with other nations like Japan or Korea.
Critics of globalization and American policies argue that China’s economic success has been achieved by circumventing international trade rules through unfair practices. China, they believe, is undermining American prosperity with everything from export subsidies and intellectual property theft to labor standards reductions and environmental deregulation. This narrative has become central to Donald Trump’s appeal to voters and has given rise to many right-wing nationalist politicians across Western countries. However, CFR’s Edward Alden contends that blaming China for middle and working class Americans’ issues obscures domestic policy failures that have contributed to widening income inequality, including underfunding schools and infrastructure, restrictive zoning laws that drive up housing costs, and anti-union legislation.
On the other hand, Chinese officials and media provide an alternate vision of China’s role in global economy. According to this narrative, economic globalization has been beneficial both to China itself and to humanity at large; moreover, China helps promote this globalization via its Belt and Road Initiative as well as technological cooperation agreements worldwide.
Both sides in the US-China relationship face complex decisions on how best to respond to China’s ambitions to alter and in some places revise global governance systems. The United States may gain attraction and influence by being seen as being open to modifying global governance structures that give emerging powers and developing nations greater voice; alternatively, resisting every effort by China at changing them may prove less attractive and lead to greater isolation.
4. Technology and Automation
Automation’s future is an issue of great import to both the United States and world at large. While some have expressed worries that automation might erode jobs or lead to unemployment, technological transformation is already creating many new opportunities in fields like software development, robotics engineering, data analysis, etc. Additionally, automation enables manufacturers to produce goods more quickly at lower costs, giving them an edge in international competition.
Automation refers to a broad category of technologies, from robotics and expert systems, telemetry and communications, electro-optics and cybersecurity to process measurement and control systems. Although each technology area varies significantly from each other, all share one goal – automating processes without human involvement using preprogrammed commands with feedback controls to make sure instructions are adhered to correctly.
Manufacturers rely on automation to increase productivity, decrease labor costs and enhance product quality. While automation may cause fear among some individuals that their jobs will be replaced by robots, research indicates that only 5 percent of occupations could be fully automated using current technologies – while most other jobs feature some parts that could be automated.
Automation not only reduces production time and costs, but it can also significantly enhance worker safety by eliminating manual labor in dangerous environments. Furthermore, automation helps eliminate human error while improving product quality for increased customer satisfaction and brand reputation.
While these benefits may be obvious, the implementation of automation requires careful consideration and care in terms of risk and implications. Businesses must ensure all stakeholders understand why automation is being introduced into their businesses and how it will benefit them; additionally they should know its limitations so as not to oversell its potential benefits; this form of organizational risk management is an essential aspect that too many organizations overlook when looking at ways to increase productivity through automation.
Companies must effectively communicate the benefits and impacts of automation to employees, so as to get managers on board with its value while also helping employees understand how it will change their jobs and what steps are required for success in an increasingly digital workplace.Tags#Current Challenges in America Also Read>>
Current Challenges in America
