Social Science Study Complete Draft

Help! The seasons are coming!

Anna De Souza

Professor Nargiza Matyakubova

ENG 201-18

May 3rd, 2019

Final Social Science Study

1. Introduction

Cold winter nights bring upon the thought of warm blankets and warm rooms in which we stay in. What if there was no heat and no money available? This is what many families go through every year. Seasonal unemployment brings many hardships for those who are working within these job fields. Many that suffer from seasonal unemployment are immigrants who work in heavy labor fields due to lack of opportunities to work in other job areas. Those same persons will be willing to help in purchasing beneficial t-shirts to help provide for those in need. This is an immensely widespread issue in the United States. As shown in studies, many immigrants move across the country due to unemployment, in hopes to end the hardships that seasonal unemployment and lack of job availability brings (Liang et al, 2018, p. 893). Members from our communities are suffering in silence with financial issues and hardships to feed not only themselves but also their families.

2. Methodology

I conducted my study on any individual that has worked in their life time and researched whether or not they have suffered from seasonal unemployment. I conducted this research to discover how many are impacted by seasonal unemployment so that I could have a larger scale view on how I could help these individuals through the sales of my beneficiary t-shirts.

To gather my survey information I first came up with ten relevant questions that would better help me understand the reaches of seasonal unemployment. Once I had my questions along with responses chosen, I created a Google Form survey, written in three languages so that the majority, if not all, people could understand the questions. I simply went onto Google Forms and began creating my survey by easily entering new questions with responses to those that were multiple choice. I used this format to collect data because it is an anonymous and secure way for all to access quickly and easily from their smartphones, computers, tablets, etc. Once the survey was created and checked for errors, I proceeded to acquire it’s link and post it onto my social media profiles. Along with a small excerpt explaining the reasoning for the survey, I posted the survey for the public to see so that I could acquire a large group of responses from individuals.

The benefit to this format is the easy and quick formation of charts and graphs to be created from the resulting responses, along with being able to group certain data depending on a specific response. Some of the yielding charts will be included in the appendix below.

Unfortunately, a few issues and limitations were encountered during my survey research. One of which was lack of responses. It was widely spread and announced through various forms of social media, however not many responded. I believe this may have cause a skew in my responses and data conclusions, which is why this was the most impacting limitation experienced. One other issue in which I encountered was a small lack in diversity. Almost all respondents were immigrants, which can also have skewed my responses to lean more towards an immigrant-filled sample size.

3. Results

After extensive analysis and research regarding the project of t-shirt sales, numbers point to a positive impact coming from the public. As per asked in a question on the survey, helping one another with the purchase of a beneficiary t-shirt had 16 out of 19 respondents say yes or maybe to the purchase.

As shown by charts and resulting responses, work experience has a negative relationship to seasonal unemployment. Per my survey conducted, those with 10 to 20+ years of work experience suffer the most seasonal unemployment compared to those with 0 to 5 years of experience. Generally, one would believe those with the least experience would suffer the most, and according to one study, those with less amount of American work experience do suffer from more unemployment (Goza, Demaris, 2003, p. 131). However it is not the case in relation to seasonal unemployment displayed in the research I conducted through the survey.

Another resulting response is in regards to age groups. 31.6% make up the majority of the response group, for the age group of 47 to 57. The next largest group makes up 26.3% of the respondents are those aged 16 to 24. The smallest response groups, which yielded 5.3% are those aged 58 to 68 and 69+ years old.

In relation to age group, both the older and younger aged groups of people experience about the same seasonal unemployment rate. As calculated by my survey, for the older age group of 47 to 69+ years old, 5 out of 7 individuals have said to experience seasonal unemployment either sometimes or every same season. For the younger age group of ages 16 to 35 years old, 6 out of 8 persons have said to also experience seasonal unemployment either sometimes or every same season.

In regards to those of the ages between 16 and 35, 3 out of 8 are in the professional job fields such as doctor, lawyer, etc. Of those 3 individuals in the professional area, 2 have experienced seasonal unemployment either sometimes or every same season.

According to these survey results, I accept my original hypothesis that seasonal unemployment affects a large group of immigrants and that those same immigrants would be willing to help others by purchasing a t-shirt in benefit to those struggling.

Appendix:

4. Discussion

What do these findings mean? How are they pertinent to the research question? Through analyzing the data collected, relationships and correlation factors, along with articles written on past studies, can better explain the findings.

One relationship found was of the amount of work experience in relation to being affected by seasonal unemployment. When better analyzed, a negative relationship can be drawn from the data given. A negative relationship shows that experience in a work field in relation to heavy labor is not relevant. A person with 20+ years of work experience is often affected more by seasonal unemployment compared to those with 0 to 5 years of work experience.

Another relationship found through data collected is immigration to seasonal unemployment. Being and immigrant and experiencing seasonal unemployment has a positive relationship, meaning if you are an immigrant, there is a high chance of experiencing this lack of job availability. Of the 16 respondents who are immigrants, 13 have experienced either constant or occasional seasonal unemployment. As stated in the article, the economy is a leading factor in unemployment within certain ethnic groups, and low demand for heavy labor jobs result in seasonal unemployment for groups such as immigrants (Caicedo, Van Gameren, 2016, p. 168). This signifies the large correlation between the jobs in which immigrants take and their instability in their jobs.

A lack of correlation is in the age groups. Both older and younger aged people experience about the same seasonal unemployment rate. A study shows how between 2008 and 2010, immigrants unemployment rose from the general 6.5% to 13%, similarly yielding results of high unemployment within immigrants as this survey yielded (Momjian, Munroe, 2011, p. 196). This shows the lack of correlation in age to work availability due to no specific age group being specifically affected more or less by seasonal unemployment.

An exception to the general trend of the data is the yielding data from the professional job field. Of the 3 who responded to be in the professional field, 2 are immigrants and of those 2, only 1 have experienced seasonal unemployment. This is an exception due to the general yielding trend shows unprofessional labeled job forces being the main, if not the only, sector for seasonal unemployment. However, according to previous research conducted, foreign born persons are more likely, at 23.9% to be in labor heavy jobs compared to native born persons, at 16.1% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2018).

My research agrees on the impact that seasonal unemployment gives correlating to past studies on how immigrants suffer from seasonal unemployment. 16 of 19 are immigrants and of those, 13 of 19 have agreed to sometimes or always experience seasonal unemployment. Past studies have shown how immigrants suffer from seasonal unemployment as a fact and not theory.

Conclusion

As shown by my research, many are indeed negatively affected by seasonal unemployment and suffer lack of basic resources needed for themselves and for their families. My initial research question was how these people could be helped from these hardships. As also shown by my research, many are willing to buy the hypothetical t-shirts produced so that sales and profits can go towards helping those in struggling times. Further studies should broaden their horizons more than I did and interview as many people of different backgrounds as they can so that a more refined data can be collected.

References

Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2018, May 17). Labor Force Characteristics of Foreign-born Workers Summary. Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/news.release/forbrn.nr0.htm/Labor-Force-Characteristics-of-Foreign-Born-Workers-Summary

Caicedo, Maritza, & Van Gameren, Edwin. (2016). Unemployment and Mental Health among Mexican Immigrants and other Population Groups in the United States. Migraciones internacionales, 8(4), 167-200. Retrieved April 11, 2019, from http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1665-89062016000200167&lng=en&tlng=en.

Goza, F., & Demaris, A. (2003). Unemployment Transitions among Brazilians in the United States and Canada. International Migration,41(5), 127-152. doi:10.1111/j.0020-7985.2003.00263.x

Liang, Z. & Li, J. & Deane, G. & Li, Z. & Zhou, B. (2018). From Chinatown to Every Town: New Patterns of Employment for Low-Skilled Chinese Immigrants in the United States. Social Forces 97(2), 893-919. Oxford University Press. Retrieved April 11, 2019, from Project MUSE database.

Momjian, V., & Munroe, K. (2011). Economic Insecurity, Mental Health, and the Economic Crisis in New York City. Western Journal of Black Studies, 35(3), 196–207. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.ez.lib.jjay.cuny.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=sih&AN=67021122&site=ehost-live