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 of a worker seeking employment that cannot find work anywhere. Since the Industrial Revolution, it has provided 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.

Unemployment is extremely rare in socialist countries. For example, the GDR guaranteed a job for everyone. Although some people refused to go to work, they cost the economy only 0.1% of scheduled work hours.