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Prior to the capitalist era in human history, structural unemployment on a mass scale rarely existed, other than that caused by natural disasters and wars. Indeed, the word "employment" is linguistically a product of the capitalist era. A permanent level of unemployment presupposes a working population which is to a large extent dependent on a wage or salary for a living, without having other means of livelihood, as well as the right of enterprises to hire and fire employees in accordance with commercial or economic conditions. Marx argued that there are no substantive laws of population that hold good for all time; instead, each specific Mode Of Production has its own specific demographic laws. If there was " Overpopulation " in capitalist society, it was overpopulation in relation to the requirements of Capital Accumulation . Consequently, demography could not simply just count people in various ways, it also had to study the Social Relations between them as well. MARX'S DISCUSSION OF THE CONCEPT Marx introduces the concept in chapter 25 of Das Kapital , stating that His argument is that as capitalism develops, the Organic Composition Of Capital will increase, which means that the mass of Constant Capital grows faster than the mass of Variable Capital . In addition, capital will become more concentrated and centralized in fewer hands. This being the ''absolute'' historical tendency, part of the working population will tend to become ''surplus'' to the requirements of Capital Accumulation over time. Paradoxically, the larger the wealth of society, the larger the industrial reserve army will become. However, as Marx develops the argument further, it also becomes clear that, depending on the state of the economy, the reserve army of labour will either expand or contract, alternately being absorbed or expelled from the employed workforce. Thus, Marx concludes that: "Relative surplus-population is therefore the pivot upon which the law of demand and supply of labour works." COMPOSITION OF THE RELATIVE SURPLUS POPULATION Marx argues the relative surplus population always has three forms: the ''floating'', the ''latent'' and the ''stagnant''.
Marx then analyses the reserve army of labour in detail, using data on Britain where he lived. Modern official social statistics however do not use these Marxian categories. Instead, the concepts of the "economically active population", the (employed and unemployed) " Labour Force ", and the "jobless" are used. Important measurement criteria here are:
People who are unable to work for one reason or another are normally not treated as "unemployed". CONTROVERSY Some writers have interpreted Marx's argument to mean that an ''absolute immiseration of the working class'' would occur as the broad historical trend. Thus, the workers would become more and more impoverished, and unemployment would constantly grow. This is of course not really credible in the light of the facts, because in various epochs and countries, workers' living standards have definitely improved rather than declined. In some periods, unemployment had been reduced to a very small amount. Other writers (e.g. Ernest Mandel and Roman Rosdolsky ) however argue that in truth Marx had no theory of an absolute immiseration of the working class; at most one could say that the rich-poor gap continues to grow, i.e. the wealthy get wealthier much more than ordinary workers improve their living standards. In part, the level of unemployment also seems to be based on the balance of power between Social Classes and state policy. Governments can allow unemployment to rise, but also implement job-creating policies, which makes unemployment levels partly a political result. Another dispute concerns the notion of " Overpopulation ". In Marx's own time, Malthus raised dire predictions that Population Growth enabled by capitalist wealth would exceed the Food Supply required to sustain that population. As noted, for Marx, "overpopulation" was really more an Ideologically Loaded Term or Social Construct , and Marxists have argued there is no real problem here, as enough Food can be produced for all; if there is a problem, it lies in the way that food is produced and distributed. In the social welfare area, there are also perpetual disputes about the extent to which unemployment is voluntarily chosen by people, or involuntary, whether it is forced on people or whether it is their own choice. In the Great Depression of the 1930s, unemployment rose to 20-30% of the working population in many countries, and people generally believed it was involuntary. But if unemployment levels are relatively low, the argument that unemployment is a matter of choice is more often heard. Finally, there are endless debates about the best way to measure unemployment, its costs and its effects, and to what extent a degree of unemployment is inevitable in any country with a developed Labour Market . A GLOBAL RESERVE ARMY OF LABOUR? Marx was writing in the mid-19th century, and obviously his discussion of unemployment is therefore in part out of date. However, his analysis may have a validity, if considered globally. The ILO reports that the proportions of world unemployment are steadily increasing.
Depending on what statistical definitions are used, the figures will be different, but that mass unemployment persists is a fact. SEE ALSO REFERENCES
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EXTERNAL LINKS ILO data on global unemployment {Link without Title} ILO global unemployment report {Link without Title} |
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