Unemployment

During the great depression (1929-1939), unemployment was at an all time high. Structures such as this soup kitchen in Chicago were set up to deal with an ever growing mass of hungry unemployed workers.

Unemployment is the condition where an individual is seeking employment but cannot find work anywhere. Unemployment since the industrial revolution has served the purpose of providing the bourgeoisie with a reserve army of labour. This reserve can be quickly deployed to work in rapidly expanding markets, or, alternatively, it can be kept as a threat to employed workers, in order to maintain low wages.