Free «The Pernicious Jobs Gap» Essay Sample

“The Pernicious Jobs Gap” is about the job gap in Chicago. In the article, instead of making arguments, the author sought to introduce and talk about the problem of jobs gap. In the article’s introductory statement, the author mentioned a report from Brookings Institution about the gap in employment, such that there are many jobs in Chicago for professionals holding Bachelor degrees or higher. However, the problem is that there is a small population of professionals who meet the job criteria or standards.

The author continued to talk about the problem of jobs gap by stating statistics about employment in Chicago. For instance, the author mentioned that there 3.5 job openings in Chicago for those with Bachelor’s degrees or higher qualifications. On the contrary, there are only 0.9 job openings for those with high school diploma or lower. Moreover, the author compared employment rates in Chicago with other cities, like Wisconsin and California, to illustrate the problem of job gaps in Chicago. The author continued to highlight how unemployment affects professionals, especially those with Bachelor Degrees.

Aside from exploring the problem of jobs gap as a strategy in introducing the issue to readers, the author also used statistics to support claims and emphasize jobs gap as a major problem in Chicago compared to other cities or states. The author continued to explore the issue by discussing other areas related to the problem – education. In this case, the author explored other issues related to the problem as a strategy to pinpoint areas, which should be addressed to solve the problem of jobs gaps. According to the author, education is linked to jobs gaps, because the capacity of individuals to fill in jobs or positions lies in their skills, competencies, and educational qualifications.

As previously discussed, the structure of the essay follows the introduction of the issue in the beginning, and then the use of facts or data to expand the discussion of jobs gap as a problem. Consequently, the author identified the cause of the problem – education – and then proceeded to write recommendations to address the problem of jobs gap. The author sees quality education as an effective solution that should be implemented to solve the problem. Individuals should receive proper qualifications so they can take on jobs and positions within their skill level or expertise. Hence, the education board in the Chicago should address problems related to dropouts and low performance among students in schools. Moreover, the author focused on the importance of training good teachers and providing them benefits and incentives to perform well in school so they can boost student performance.

The strength of the article lies in the author’s evaluation of the recommendations. Aside from developing solutions to the problem, the author also evaluated said solutions to identify the challenges or problems that schools would face while implemented them to improve the quality of education. According to the author, the problem is that not all individuals in Chicago need to earn degrees or higher educational qualifications to gain a high-income or gainful employment. Based on the project launched by the Mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, targeting is one of the strategies implemented to solve the problem. The project aims to change the educational system in City Colleges of Chicago by introducing new courses that target a specific job sector. Therefore, students will get to earn the opportunity to choose the career path they want to take and to improve their knowledge, skills, and competencies to succeed professionally. The solution is strategy-based, such that the City Colleges of Chicago will offer courses where the industry needs employees (i.e. health care) and then educate students so they can fill job gaps in these industries.

The premise of the article, therefore, includes educational problems and the solution presented by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Based on the points in the article, the aim of the author was not to convince readers but to inform them about the problem. Hence, evaluating how the article convinces readers would be inappropriate as the aim of the author was to inform. The author successfully achieved the aims of writing the article because the problem was well presented and supported with facts. Moreover, the solution presented by the author is appropriate and ideally would help resolve the jobs gap in Chicago. The author succeeds in informing the readers and making them think about what other possible solutions could be raised to solve the problem of jobs gap.