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Is there a natural rate of unemployment? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 2 years ago by tomasz@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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[–] felipeforte@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 years ago

Natural? Absolutely not.

In a capitalist system, where labor is a commodity bought by employers, it will tend to have unemployment. Unemployment is extremely useful for capitalists primarily because it drives the prices of labor down, because unemployed people will be more desperate for a job and accept lower wages, and also it leaves a larger pool of labor to be employed anytime needed.

The market itself cannot fix unemployment, and in fact, tends to worsen it. Unemployment is only fixed through state intervention and programs to employ people. The lowest unemployment rates are found in countries which do not obey the capitalist market logic, namely socialist countries. Cuba had an unemployment rate of 1.2% before the pandemic, Laos has an unemployment rate of 1% and was lower before the pandemic, the USSR had rates of unemployment below 1%.

There's nothing natural about unemployment. It's a state policy to leave a high percentage of the people unemployed, and it only benefits corporate interests.