Employment Crises ...... an endless agony.
Tani
"Employment Crises"
Employment, career (employment information)
“The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one.” (Oscar Wilde)
I think more then half of the world is facing this " employment crises" this plague is not limited to our or yours country only it’s a major issue which is spreading day by day when educated degree holders are seen knocking on organizations doors for interviews but now a days even getting to an interview is like climbing the highest mountain peak of Pakistan K2 unless and until in your credentials you have a reference and that also a high one you are just showed the door after a few minutes interview and a swift look at your credentials " will contact you soon " is all you hear from the organizations, banks, or any hiring agency.
Very soon the boom of " the need of education" will get dimmer and dimmer and one day the youth will refuse to get education or to enquire a professional degree and if asked " why" ? They will say "who will give me the guarantee of a good reputed job"? Even now the youth who see their uncle's, father's, friend's father's being unemployed puts a question in their innocent minds "that why should I study when my elders do not have a decent job to feed their families"
The houses which have the youth sitting at home when meet somewhere outside their home and they discuss the current situation in the country the only solution they can think of is stealing, robbery, or even rape for that matter because rape will vent their frustrated feelings as well as inner satisfaction will make them feel like real he men. So when night falls these young men ranging from ages 18-40 years will gather when the world is asleep to rob even their own parents if need be which means under the term " looting" anyone can come just money and jewelry is important to these people who are sick of staying unemployed and facing starvation, suffering, illness, unmarried sisters and younger siblings crying of hunger forces this youth to become the dacoits, robbers of tomorrow.
But this does not end here in this tug of war someone is bound to get killed because some houses have licensed arms and when they try to resist they are shot point blank range and then what?
This money jewelry is distributed among the looters who return to their homes most of the time caught free but at times caught by the police so you see it’s a vicious circle which goes from the start till the end with no break in between showing any signs of employment or hiring.
Rank Country Unemployment rate (%)
1 Zimbabwe
95%
2 Nauru
90 %
3 Liberia
85%
4 Burkina Faso
77%
5 Turkmenistan
60 %
6 Cocos (Keeling) Islands
60%
7 Djibouti
59%
8 Namibia
51.2 %
9 Senegal
48%
10 Nepal
46%
11 Lesotho
45%
12 Kosovo
45%
13 Bosnia and Herzegovina
43.1 %
14 Haiti
40.6 %
15 Gaza Strip
40%
16 Kenya
40 %
17 Swaziland
40%
18 Marshall Islands
36%
19 Yemen
35%
20 Afghanistan
35%
21 Macedonia
31.7 %
22 Mali
30%
23 Mauritania
30%
24 Libya
30 %
25 Cameroon
30%
26 American Samoa
29.8 %
27 South Africa
23.3%
28 Dominica
23%
29 Equatorial Guinea
22.3 %
30 Micronesia, Federated States of
22%
31 Gabon
21%
32 Cape Verde
21%
33 Mozambique
21 %
34 Comoros
20%
35 East Timor
20%
36 Spain
20%
37 Saint Lucia
20%
38 Serbia
19.2%
39 Sudan
18.7 %
40 Kyrgyzstan
18 %
41 Lithuania
17.9 %
42 Croatia
17.6%
43 Estonia
17.5%
44 New Caledonia
17.1%
45 West Bank
16.5 %
46 Georgia
16.4 %
47 Iraq
15.3%
48 Wallis and Futuna
15.2%
49 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
15 %
50 Oman
15 %
51 Pakistan
15%
52 Bahrain
15 %
53 Montenegro
14.7 %
54 Iran
14.6%
55 Maldives
14.5 %
56 Latvia
14.3 %
57 Dominican Republic
14.2%
58 Zambia
14 %
59 Tunisia
14%
60 Saint Helena
14 %
61 Ireland
13.7%
62 Albania
13.5%
63 Slovakia
13.5%
64 Jordan
13.4%
65 Belize
13.1 %
66 Cook Islands
13.1%
67 Tonga
13%
68 Jamaica
12.9%
69 Grenada
12.5 %
70 Turkey
12.4 %
71 Venezuela
12.1%
72 Puerto Rico
12%
73 Greece
12%
74 Niue
12%
75 Poland
11.8%
76 Colombia
11.8%
77 French Polynesia
11.7%
78 Mongolia
11.5%
79 Guam
11.4%
80 Ghana
11%
81 Antigua and Barbuda
11%
82 Guyana
11%
83 India
10.8%
84 Saudi Arabia
10.8%
85 Hungary
10.7%
86 Portugal
10.7%
87 Barbados
10.7 %
88 Slovenia
10.6 %
89 Sint Maarten
10.6%
90 Saint Pierre and Miquelon
10.3%
91 Curacao
10.3 %
92 Turks and Caicos Islands
10%
93 Algeria
9.9%
94 Morocco
9.8 %
95 Egypt
9.7 %
96 United States
9.7%
97 France
9.5%
98 Suriname
9.5 %
99 Bulgaria
9.2%
100 Chile
8.7%
101 Belgium
8.5%
102 Finland
8.4 %
103 Italy
8.4%
104 Ukraine
8.4%
105 Sweden
8.3%
106 Syria
8.3%
107 Iceland
8.3%
108 Romania
8.2%
109 Nicaragua
8%
110 Northern Mariana Islands
8 %
111 Central African Republic
8 %
112 Canada
8 %
113 Anguilla
8 %
114 Argentina
7.9%
115 Peru
7.9%
116 United Kingdom
7.9%
117 Russia
7.6%
118 Bahamas, The
7.6 %
119 Fiji
7.6%
120 Botswana
7.5 %
121 Mauritius
7.5 %
122 Germany
7.4%
123 Costa Rica
7.3%
124 Philippines
7.3%
125 Czech Republic
7.1%
126 Armenia
7.1 %
127 Indonesia
7.1%
128 Brazil
7%
129 El Salvador
7%
130 Aruba
6.9 %
131 Malta
6.9 %
132 Greenland
6.8 %
133 Uruguay
6.8%
134 Bolivia
6.5%
135 New Zealand
6.5 %
136 Panama
6.5%
137 Moldova
6.5 %
138 Israel
6.4%
139 Trinidad and Tobago
6.4%
140 Virgin Islands
6.2%
141 Montserrat
6 %
142 Paraguay
5.7%
143 Burma
5.7%
144 Mexico
5.6%
145 Netherlands
5.5%
146 Kazakhstan
5.5%
147 Luxembourg
5.5%
148 Sri Lanka
5.4%
149 Taiwan
5.2%
150 Australia
5.1%
151 Japan
5.1%
152 Honduras
5.1 %
153 Ecuador
5%
154 Nigeria
4.9 %
155 Bangladesh
4.8%
156 Austria
4.5 %
157 Saint Kitts and Nevis
4.5 %
158 China
4.3 %
159 Hong Kong
4.3%
160 Denmark
4.2%
161 Palau
4.2%
162 Cayman Islands
4%
163 Bhutan
4 %
164 Faroe Islands
3.9%
165 Switzerland
3.9%
166 San Marino
3.8 %
167 Brunei
3.7 %
168 Norway
3.6%
169 British Virgin Islands
3.6%
170 Malaysia
3.5%
171 Cambodia
3.5%
172 Korea, South
3.3 %
173 Guatemala
3.2 %
174 Gibraltar
3 %
175 Andorra
2.9 %
176 Macau
2.9 %
177 Vietnam
2.9 %
178 Laos
2.5%
179 United Arab Emirates
2.4%
180 Tajikistan
2.2%
181 Kuwait
2.2%
182 Jersey
2.2%
183 Bermuda
2.1%
184 Singapore
2.1%
185 Seychelles
2 %
186 Cuba
2 %
187 Kiribati
2 %
188 Isle of Man
1.8 %
189 Papua New Guinea
1.8 %
190 Vanuatu
1.7%
191 Liechtenstein
1.5 %
192 Thailand
1.2%
193 Uzbekistan
1.1%
194 Belarus
1%
195 Azerbaijan
0.9%
196
Guernsey
0.9%
197 Qatar
0.5%
198 Monaco
0%
Definition: This entry contains the percent of the labor force that is without jobs. Substantial underemployment might be noted.
Source: CIA World Fact book - Unless otherwise noted, information in this page is accurate as of January 1, 2011
According to "COUNTER PUNCH" http://www.counterpunch.org (AMERICA'S BEST POLITICAL NEWSLETTER, OUT OF BONDS MAGAZINE)
WEEKEND EDITION DECEMBER 16-18, 2011
Keynesian vs. Marxian Explanations
Understanding Unemployment
By ISMAEL HOSSEIN-ZADEH
“A study of the struggle waged by the English working class reveals that, in order to oppose their workers, the employers either bring in workers from abroad or else transfer manufacture to countries where there is a cheap labor force. Given this state of affairs, if the working class wishes to continue its struggle with some chance of success, the national organizations must become international.”
–Karl Marx
According to these economists, the origins of the ongoing high rates of unemployment (and of the underlying economic crisis in general) can be traced back to Ronald Reagan: his election to the presidency in 1980 and the subsequent rise of Neoliberalism brought forth an economic doctrine that has gradually led to the reversal of the Keynesian demand-management strategies of economic stimulation. So, for most Keynesian/liberal economists and politicians, Reagan is the pivotal figure and 1980 is the watershed year:
“Before 1980, economic policy was designed to achieve full employment, and the economy was characterized by a system in which wages grew with productivity. This configuration created a virtuous circle of growth. Rising wages meant robust aggregate demand, which contributed to full employment. Full employment in turn provided an incentive to invest, which raised productivity, thereby supporting higher wages.
“After 1980, with the advent of the new [Neoliberal] growth model, the commitment to full employment was abandoned as inflationary, with the result that the link between productivity growth and wages was severed. In place of wage growth as the engine of demand growth, the new model substituted borrowing and asset price inflation. Adherents of the neo-liberal orthodoxy made controlling inflation their primary policy concern, and set about attacking unions, the minimum wage, and other worker protections” [1].
The fundamental laws of demand and supply of labor under capitalism are therefore heavily influenced, Marx argued, by the market’s ability to regularly produce a reserve army of labor, or a “surplus population.” The reserve army of labor, whose size is determined largely by the imperatives of capitalist profitability, is therefore as important to capitalist production as is the active (or actually employed) army of labor. Just as the regular and timely adjustment of the level of water behind a dam is crucial to a smooth or stable use of water, so is an “appropriate” size of a pool of the unemployed critical to the profitability of capitalist production. “The industrial reserve army,” Marx wrote,
“During periods of stagnation … weighs down the active army of workers; during the period of over-production and feverish activity, it puts a curb on their pretensions. The relative surplus population is therefore the background against which the law of the demand and supply of labor does its work. It confines the field of action of this law to the limits absolutely convenient to capital’s drive to exploit and dominate the workers” [5].
It is clear that the Marxian theory of the reserve army of labor, which shows how unemployment arises and why it is necessary to capitalism, provides a much better understanding of the current plague of unemployment than the Keynesian view, which blames it on “Neoliberal” capitalism—and which is essentially tantamount to explaining something by itself.
In the era of globalization of production and employment, the reserve army of labor has drastically expanded beyond national borders. According to a recent report by the International Labor Organization (ILO), between 1980 and 2007 the global labor force rose from 1.9 billion to 3.1 billion, a growth rate of 63 percent. Historical transition to capitalism in many less-developed parts of the world, which has led to the so-called de-peasantization, or proletarianization and urbanization, especially in countries such as China and India, is obviously a major source of the enlargement of the worldwide labor force, and its availability to global capital. The ILO report further shows that, worldwide, the ratio of the active (or employed) to reserve (or unemployed) army of labor is less than 50%, that is, more than half of the global labor force is unemployed [6].
It is this huge and readily available pool of the unemployed, along with the ease of production anywhere in the world—not some abstract or evil intentions of “right-wing Republicans and wicked Neoliberals,” as Keynesians argue—that has forced the working class, especially in the US and other advanced capitalist countries, into submission: going along with the brutal austerity schemes of wage and benefit cuts, of layoffs and union busting, of part-time and contingency employment, and the like. Ruthless Neoliberal policies of the past several decades, by both Republican and Democratic parties, are more a product of the structural changes in the global capitalist production than their cause. This is not to say that economic policies do not matter; but that such policies should not be attributed simply to capricious decision, malicious intentions or conspiratorial schemes.
It might be argued: “who cares what caused the unemployment? The fact is that it is a huge problem for millions; and why not simply replicate the Keynesian-type stimulus policies that were adopted in the immediate aftermath of the Great Depression and World War II?” Indeed, this seems to be the view of most of the Keynesian economists and liberal policy makers.
To sum up, the Marxian theory of unemployment, based on his theory of the reserve army of labor, provides a much better explanation of the protracted high levels of unemployment than the Keynesian view that attributes the plague of unemployment to the “misguided” or “bad” policies of Neoliberalism. Likewise, the Marxian theory of subsistence or near-poverty wages, also based on his theory of the reserve army of labor, provides a more satisfactory understanding of how or why such poverty levels of wages, as well as a generalized or nationwide predominance of misery, can go hand-in-hand with “healthy” or high levels of corporate profits than the Keynesian perceptions, which view a high level of wages as a necessary condition for a “virtuous” or expansionary economic cycle. Perhaps more importantly, the Marxian view that meaningful, lasting economic safety-net programs can be carried out only through overwhelming pressure from the masses—and only on a coordinated global level—provides a more logical and promising solution to the problem of economic hardship for the overwhelming majority of the world population than the neat, purely intellectual, and apolitical Keynesian stimulus packages on a national level, which are based on the hope or illusion that the government can control and manage capitalism “in the interest of all.” No matter how long or loud or passionately our good-hearted Keynesians beg for jobs and other New Deal-type reform programs, their pleas for the implementation of such programs are bound to be ignored by the government of big business. Only by mobilizing the masses of workers and other grassroots and fighting, instead of begging, for an equitable share of what is truly the product of their labor, the wealth of nations, can the working majority achieve economic security and human dignity. (This is a small concise version of the above theory).
Article submitted Thursday, December 22, 2011 & read 232 times.
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