Person of the Year: The “Unemployed American”

Time, a weekly current affairs magazine, chooses a “Person of the Year” toward the end of every year. Media all over the world have paid close attention to this selection to see who is the biggest news-maker or has the greatest influence in the world … Koreans are even curious to know if a fellow national might have made the cut.

The work to choose the 2010 Time Person of the Year is afoot on the Internet. Time has posted on its homepage 25 final candidates for the title. Anyone can access the site and cast a vote for their personal choice. The candidates include U.S. President Barack Obama, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Steve Jobs of Apple and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Also featured are BP CEO Tony Hayward of Gulf oil spill infamy, and Mary Schapiro, chairwoman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. American professional basketball superstar LeBron James and singer Lady Gaga, too, are among those listed. Just by looking at this group of people, one can imagine the events that have occurred throughout this year.

Of this year’s twenty-five, there are figures that draw particular attention. They are the Chilean miners and the “Unemployed American.” The Chilean miners are heroes who bravely survived for 69 days trapped in a dark underworld, 700 meters below the surface of the earth. Although the current global economy remains weak and the future of the world seems uncertain, these miners were able to overcome a terrible ordeal to demonstrate the strong will of humankind. Beyond the ranking, these miners are certainly worthy of being Time’s Persons of the Year.

The jobless American is interesting on another level. Even in the fantastic 21st century of rapidly developing civilization and technology, this “figure” grabs even more of our interest insofar as it is, in essence, a portrait of ourselves. The U.S. unemployment rate has fluctuated four to five percent from 2000 to mid-2008. In mid-2003, the rate momentarily rose to six percent but quickly fell. The unemployment rate then shot up almost vertically after the 2008 global financial crisis, and has remained steady at nearly 10 percent since last May.

Even Korean journalists avoid getting involved in the U.S. jobs issue we hear about from the international news desk. Maybe this wouldn’t be the case if we could report that the unemployment situation was getting better or that there was even the slightest indication of an improvement. But with constant news of youth unemployment, lack of jobs for graduates, baby boomers unprepared for early retirement, and job insecurity among older men and women, there have been incessant anxieties about the prospect of an inevitable long-term unemployment crisis. More than 400,000 new Americans are receiving unemployment benefits every month, with the total number of such people reaching 4.3 million.

Unemployment is scarier than the atomic bomb. This becomes evident in looking at the recent defeat in the U.S. midterm elections, or President Obama’s focus on saving the economy both at home and abroad. Neither of these things seem very out of place when seen from the perspective of jobs. Of course, unemployment is not a problem exclusive to the U.S.

But the severity of the American jobs issue is receiving appropriate recognition. Although we have disproved the convention that the unemployment rate fluctuates by 0.3 percent following a one percent change in the rate of economic growth, there is a position that nonetheless advocates pushing for the minimum level of growth.

Whether it be the focus of President Obama’s “sales” diplomacy during his recent tour in Asia, the resolution of a possible all-out trade war, the confrontation of the global currency war or the eagerness behind the ROK-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, at the core of all such topics is the issue of employment.

I hope that the “Recovered American” will make the list for next year’s Time Person of the Year. Because I want to live in a world where American recovery is underway, Chinese youth employment has increased and Korean economic influence has spread.