Table of Content

Section One Introduction

Statement of problem
Rationale
Aims and Objectives
Literature Review
Section Two Research Design
Research Design / Plan
Selection of Sample
Data Collection Instrument
Section Three Presentation and Analysis of Data
Presentation of Data
Analysis of Data
Discussion of Findings
Bibliography

SECTION
ONE
Introduction

Statement of Problem
To what extent has unemployment contributed to an increase in the size of the population of
community Y?

Rationale
Based on observations that I have made within my community it appears that
unemployed persons produce a larger amount of children than persons who attend school or who
is employed fulltime. While studying sociology I have come across theories that state that there
is a co-relation between being employed and ones family size as such I chose to research to
what extent has unemployment contributed to an increase in population in my own community.

Aim and Objectives

Aim
To find out to what extent unemployment contributes to an increase in the population size of
community Y

Objectives
To determine the factors in community Y
To ascertain the relationship between unemployed persons and their family sizes within my
community.
To discover the problems that has arised due to the increase of the population of community
Y.
What measures can be taken to alleviate the impacts of unemployment in community Y.

Literature Review
The perspective of population growth coined by the functionalist Thomas Robert
Malthus, a British clergyman, philosopher and economist strongly believed that population
growth was linked to certain natural laws and claimed that food supply was the main limit to
population growth . Malthus hypothesized that unchecked population growth would quickly
exceed carry capacity leading to over population and social problems. Thomas Malthus warned
that population growth would exceed resource growth rate leading to catastrophic checks on
population. This would occur because population grew exponiently while food supply grew
arithmetically , he contrasted the way in which population and food supply grew. Thomas
Malthus theory therefore states that unemployment is a societal factor which leads to an increase
in population.
Sociology themes and perspective written by M.Haralombos and M.Holborn states that in
1970s and 1980s unemployment became an important issue and so did population growth.
Government statistics showed that unemployment in these decades reached higher levels than at
any time since the Second World War. Between 1948 and 1966 the official unemployment rate in
the UK averaged less than 21% of the work force. It increased slightly in the 1960s and then
nearly doubled in two years to 9.5 % in 1982. Unemployment statistics reach a peak in 1985 &
1986, in both years 11.8% of the work force were out of work. Unemployment figures then
began to fall steadily reaching 6.1% in June 1989. In the period 1948-1966 the numbers out of
work averaged about 350,000. By 1979 the figures were 1,200,000 and then it rose rapidly to
reach an average of 3,289,000 in 1968. By March 1989 unemployment statistics had fallen to
two million and in June of the same year were 1, 743, 00. Other researches done showed that
population increased at the same rate in the same years. As the unemployment rate rose so did
the population growth. Sociologist thereby concluded that certain natural laws namely
reproduction results from unemployed individuals who engage in sexual activities as a hobby
when bored thus leading to procreation and an increase in population size.
According to Pearsons Cape Sociology, itis precisely stated that unemployment in the Caribbean
are mainly the low skilled women and older and less fit workers. This group of people is easily
affected by the many changes that are taking place in the Caribbean region. The theory that
immensely contrasted. Thomas Malthus argued that wide spread mechanization, automation and
computerization in factories and offices has resulted in a reduction in the demand for labour. In
addition, the cyclical nature of the Caribbeans tourism and agricultural sector means that in the
low periods, unemployment rates go up and poverty and population levels naturally increase. As
a result of those changes unemployed persons thereby has more time to procreate and as such the
population grows causing changes and alteration which severely affects the countrys economy
and its social status.

The essay entitled unemployment in relation of population growth published June 2013 in the
International Journal of Research in Social Science stated precisely that different effects of
unemployment impact population. Psychological effects of unemployment in the current state of
economy continue to be a great stress. Unemployed workers experience psychological problems
as anxiety, depression and other psychosomatic symptoms. As the most affected part of
unemployment appears to be mainly the female sex followed by young workers as they are not
given the chance to experience their abilities to market demands. Therefore females tend to resort
to the stay at home tradition which involves them managing a house hold and satisfying a man
sexually, hereby resulting in pregnancies, increased population and further stress on society.
After evaluating and selecting a suitable theory to coerce with the statement of problem and
identifying sources related to the causes and effects, World watch institute blog included
strategies that sociologist think could counter wide spread population growth in relation to
unemployment. The main focus of population growth being caused by unemployment lead to
voices that aided the implementation of this issue.Hub pages of labour and industrial relations
stated that there are two major strategies to reduce unemployment ; these being increasing the
aggregate demand and to work on the supply side thus providing jobs to meet everyones needs.
In light of all these costs, disadvantages and dangers , It becomes imperative to reduce
unemployment although it is a tough economy and it requires patience and efforts but reducing
unemployment is always one of the biggest priorities for any country hence controlling the
increasing size of population is firstly recommended by World Watch Institute to convince
leaders to commit to stabilizing population growth through the exercise of human rights and
human development . By educating themselves on right-based population policies, policy makers
can ethnically and effectively address population related challenges by empowering women to
make their reproductive choices and not be worked by the opposing gender. In the same sense
the legislation to eradicate gender bias from law, economic opportunity, health and culture.
Women who cab own , inherit or manage property, divorce obtain credit and participate in civic
and political affairs on equal terms with men and are more likely to postpone child bearing and to
women who are deprived of their rights. Being entitled to rights like those enables a woman to
own her life and to employ her own personal and social needs than to owned and entitled to
demonstrate someone else. The blog further stated that to place prices on environmental costs
and impacts generally world limit population growth among the unemployed quantifying the cost
of an additional family by calculating tax and increased food costs, couples may decide that the
cost of having additional children is too high compared to benefits of a smaller family that might
receive government rebates and have a lower cost of living.
Such decisions freely made by women and couples can reduce birthrate thus countering
population growth among the unemployed populous * among Us.

SECTION
TWO
Research
Design

Research Design
To ascertain information in relation to my statement of problem to what extent does
unemployment contribute to an increase in population size the researcher decided to use the
quantitative research design method. This method is an effective tool in that questionnaire
Requires little time to be completed
Guarantees confidentiality since respondents are not asked to attach their names and the data is
easily qualified
To collect data, printed questionnaires were used as a primary source being issued to respondents
between the dates January 31st& February 28th 2015. Though the named method has its
advantages one disadvantage is that there is no indication of the personal state of the respondents
therefore most questions may be answered biasly.

The Sample
In deciding how to disseminate the questionnaires among residents of Community X,
probability sampling was used. More specifically simple random sampling was utilized instead
of the quota sample method, mainly because unemployment in coercion of population growth is
a prevailing issue in this community. With over50 persons being unemployed and the population
drastically increasing from 150 to 200 in the past years. In order to make this research accurate
and unbiased random sampling had to be selected as not all household is affected by
unemployment.
A total of 70 questionnaires were prepared for distribution and it was expected that at
least 50 will be returned. The target group for my study is mainly residents between 18-45 who
are capable and willing to work and is still able to reproduce. This survey was done in the
community of Berwick where population and unemployment is on the rise.

Data Collection Instrument

Berwick District
Bog Walk P.O
St Catherine
January 31st 2015
Dear Residents,
This is a survey being carried out in Berwick District, St.Catherine to determine to
what extent unemployment leads to an increase in population growth , thus study is being
conducted as an internal assement for the CAPE Sociology course that I am pursing presently.
You are asked to answer the following questions by placing a tick in the boxes provided . I am
Sabrina Brown a lower six student at the Dinthill Technical High School.
Yours Sincerely
Sabrina Brown

Questionnaires
1.

Gender

Male

Female

2. To what age group do you belong?

18-24
25-35
35-45
3. Are you employed?
Yes

No

4. If no, how long have you been unemployed?

Less than a year
1 year
Over 5 years

2-3 years

5. How long have you been a resident of this community?

1-5 years

6-10

Over 10 years

6. Do you see unemployment as a prevailing issue?

Yes
No
7. How long has unemployment been a major problem?

8. What are some of the activities you or other unemployed persons engage in on a daily basis?

Sports

Gambling

Hang on the street corner

Other: _______________________________________________________

9. Have you observed the increase in population over the past year?
Yes

No

10. Do you think unemployment is somehow linked to an increase in population?

Yes
No
11. What are the main causes of unemployment in your community?
I.
II.
III.
IV.

Wide spread mechanization

Automation and computerization in factories
Gender biases
Other _____________________________________

12. What gender is mainly unemployed?

Male

Female

13. The unemployed has a ___________________ family size

Small

Medium

Large

14. Does an unemployed person have a large family size?

Yes
No
15. Seeing the increase in population in your community, what are some of the problems being
encountered?
I.
II.
III.
IV.

Pressure on the state

Over crowded social institutes
Less Jobs
Other ____________________________________________

16. What are some of the major effects of population growth?

Unemployment
Pressure on environment
other _______________________________________

Overcrowded cities

17. Is population growth a positive or negative sign for a country?

Yes
No
18. For number (17) question above, Please justify your answer

19. In what way is the government reacting to the whole unemployment and population growth
issue?
Positively

Negatively

20. Do you think more should be done?

Yes

No

21. In your own opinion, what can be done to counter or control these raging issues

22. Do you see this idea as useful to the country in a way that the issues may be eliminated or
reduced?
Yes
No

SECTION
THREE
Presentation and
Analysis of Data

Presentation of Data
A total of 70 questionnaires were distributed, out of which 50 were returned

What are the main causes of

unemployment?
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

Figure 1 bar graph showing main causes of unemployment. Gender biases was stated as the
leading cause of unemployment with 60%, 10% reported that another leading cause was wide
spread automation while 20% stated computerisation in factories. 10% stated other

The relationship between unemployed

persons and their family size

50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Small

Medium

Large

Figure 2 bar graph showing the family size of unemployed persons. It was reported that
unemployed persons had a larger family size. This was stated by 50%, 30% highlighted that they
possess a family with a medium size while 20% stated that unemployed persons had a small
family.

Problems encountered from population

growth

Problem
encountered

Frequency

Percentage

Pressure on the state

30

60%

Over crowded social institution

10%

Lesser jobs

7.5

15%

Other

7.5

15%

Figure 3 frequency table showing problems encountered from population growth. 60% stated
pressure on state was a major problem encountered, 15% lesser jobs and other options as main
problem encountered. 10% however stated that overcrowded institution was also a problem.

Unemployed and Employed Percentage

30%
Yes

No
70%

Figure 4 shows the percentage of employed and unemployed persons in Berwick.

70% of the respondents were unemployed while 30% were employed.

Do you observe an increase in

population ?

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
Yes

No

Figure 5 shows the percentage of respondents who observe an increase in population in the
community of Berwick. 70% stated that yes they observed an increase while 30% stated they did
not observe it.

Is population growth negative ?

30%

70%

Figure 6 pie chart showing the percentage of the respondents views on whether or not
population growth is negative. 70% agreed to this while 30% disagreed.

Gender mostly employed

20%

Female

Male

80%

Figure 7 pie chart showing the percentage of the gender mostly unemployed. Respondents stated
that 80% of female were unemployed while 20% of male were unemployed this was primarily
because of societal and gender issues.

Percentage at which unemployment is

linked to population growth
80%
70%
60%
50%
Percentage at which
unemployment is linked to
population growth

40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Yes

No

Figure 8 pie chart is showing percentage of unemployment linked to population growth. 70% of
the respondents stated that there was a relationship between unemployment and population
growth while 30% disagreed.

How government reacts to the issue of

unemployment and population growth
Positive

Mediocre

Negative

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Figure 9 bar graph showing the percentage of which the government reacts to the issue of
unemployment and population growth. It was reported that 60% of the respondents saw the
government performing at a mediocre level. The remaining 20% stated respectively that the
government reacted in a positive way while the other 20% stated it was a negative reaction.

Activities unemployed persons engage in

Activities

Frequency

Percentage

Sports

10%

Gambling

10%

Hang on the streets

10

20%

Other

30

60%

Figure 10 frequency table showing activities unemployed persons engage in. 10% engage in
sports, 20% hang on the streets, another 10% gambled while another 60% engaged in other
activities example household duties etc.

Analysis of data
The data collected from the research to what extent does unemployment leads to an
increase in population size proved that these two issues coerce with each other significantly.
This thesis can be supported by theoretical definition which states that population growth is the
increase in population because of various societal factors.
Thomas Malthus linked the causes of population growth from the functionalist
perspective that certain natural laws were the main factor. From the research conducted results
obtained, revealed that the main cause of unemployment was due to gender biases. Pat tradition
are known to be structured in a way that females are housewives and restricted from giving
employment primarily because they are not seen as fully industrious as men. 80% of the
respondents stated that females had the highest populous of unemployed persons. Technological
changes such as wide spread mechanization, computerization and automation were listed equally
as the second leading cause of unemployment. Other issues namely lack of education or the
disabled were another cause of unemployed selected by another `10% of the respondents who
thought the causes of unemployment stretched way beyond the options listed above.
Problems that arise due to the increase in population were also surveyed 60% stated that
pressure on the state was a mayor problem as they related to Malthuss theory which entailed
information stating poor laws should be abolished . In this sense entities such as the PATH
program would be eradication because it is seen to boost reproduction. 10% stated that
overcrowded social institutions particularly school was severely affected. The remaining 30%
listed lesson jobs and other issues as problems which resulted from population growth.
A strategy to counter these raging issues suggested by respondents varies widely as this
was given in a short answer structure. The respondents however twisted the question to suit their
opinion one stated that to reduce unemployment you first have to reduce population, this would
be done by firstly campaigning on the use of contraceptives and secondly by casting laws that
permit a house hold to only bear three off springs the most . These were seen as satisfactory
response as most of the answered received were rooted from this.
Unemployed is known to be a prevailing issue and in the community of Berwick.

AVEWccording to figure one in the community 70% of the population was unemployed while
30% were employed. Figure 2 further went on to detail that 70% observed a drastic increase in
the communitys population while 30% was unsure of the changes. Figure3 linked to figure 2
somehow shows the percentage of respondents who saw this change as negative primary because
pressure will be placed on the society however 30% stated it was positive as they saw not only
the community but the country as having a growing population. While unemployment lead to an
increase in population it is expected that family size will increase as well. These responds went
on further to prove that unemployment do lead to an increase in population size has 50% stated
that the unemployed had a larger family size compared to other. The remaining 50% however
contrasted that a few passed medium & small size families.
What does unemployed persons do was another question asked 10% stated respectively
that they engaged in sports and gambling while another 20% listed that the loitered on the street.
However a leading 60% selected the option other and expanded on the fact that most of these
were females and the males were the bread winner therefore sex was ultimately included in the
plan as another option unemployed persons engage in this leading to pregnancies and increased
population. In this same issue the question was asked whether or not unemployment links to
population growth and surprisingly the majority (70%) agreed to this while 30% stated no and
disagreed. The final question viewed was entitled to show the percentage at which the
government react to the issue of unemployment and population growth and 60% responded
saying the attention towards the issue was at mediocre level while 20% stated respectively that
the reaction was negative and positive.

Discussion of Findings and Conclusion

From the research conducted in the community of Berwick on the extent to which
unemployment leads to an increase in population it was revealed that unemployed persons have
a larger family size compared to persons who are employed this was primarily because
unemployed persons have more time to engage in sexual activities compared to the working
class. The second finding was that gender biases was seen as the main cause of unemployment.
Females are rendered non-industrious especially when in the reproductive state therefore this
such bias leads the causes of unemployment in this community. Thirdly pressure on the state was
listed to be the main problem encountered from population growth because as the population
increase unemployment became more rampant and entities such as PATH were comfort to these
individuals as it encourage them to reproduce. Finally to abolish poor laws was the suggestion
agreed on by majority of the respondents to alleviate the issue of unemployment and population
growth.
In the beginning of the research a few aims were set out to be achieved. Based on the
findings it was concluded that unemployment do lead to an increase in population. In trying to
counter this issue of unemployment and population growth the researcher recommends the
strategies of Thomas Malthus being preventative checks which entails fertility control and
positive checks which focus on mortality. Malthus regarded these as positive because they are
capable of restricting uncheck population growth.

Bibliography
Haralambos. M, Holborn M. Sociology Themes and Perspective. London: Unwin Hyman
Publisher, third edition 1990
Loku Afrim, Deda Gamend, "Unemployment in Relation Of Growth Population"
International Journal of Research In Social Science Kosovo. June 2013 Volume Number
2
Nasser Mustapha Sociology for the Caribbean second edition 2010
Carlton Chinapoo, Norma James Maureen Lee-Paisley Pearson Cape Sociology unit 1
and 2 first edition 2012
Labour and Industrial Relations Research Paper 2009
Causes and Effects of Population Growth. World Watch Institute blog