|
|
» A Turn for the Worse in the United
States: Criminalizing Dissent Dr. Baburam Bhattarai on the Failure of the Peace Talks in Nepal Remembering W.E.B. Du Bois Fidel Castro: May Day Rally
Speech The Sage of Imperialism: At 90, Harry Magdoff has Made His Marx by Susan Green » About RECENT ESSAYS ON: BACK ISSUES: April 2003 March 2003 February
2003 January 2003 December
2002 November
2002 October 2002 September
2002 July-August 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February
2002 January 2002
December 2001
November 2001
October 2001
September 2001
July-August 2001 June 2001
May 2001
April 2001
March 2001 February
2001 Index to Back Issues
AN
INTERVIEW WITH:
SIMPATICO LINKS:
»
Word Power
Bookshop » ZNet |
  
|
April 2004, Volume 55 — Number 11 c o n t
e n t s This is the fourth in a continuing series of special issues on the economy to which we have devoted the magazine each April since 2001. In the first of these, written shortly before the 2001 recession began, we took on the then prevalent myth of the "New Economy," arguing that it was more myth than reality, and dispelling the notion that high tech and rising productivity gains had somehow tamed the business cycle. In April 2002 we dedicated the Review of the Month to examining the core economic contradictions of the system in terms of "Slow Growth, Excess Capital, and a Mountain of Debt." Last April we asked the question, "What Recovery?" and focused on the fact that the recovery had failed to spread to employment, and on the whole problem of labor underutilization-inquiring into how the economy managed to keep going at all under these circumstances. | more |. REVIEW
OF THE MONTH Except in times of war, capitalist economies almost never reach full employment. The mere absence of jobs for those desiring paid employment, however, is not necessarily a problem for the ruling economic interests. Unemployment and the underutilization of labor more generally-the existence of what Marx called the industrial reserve army of labor-is a necessary part of a capitalist economy, since it keeps wages low as workers are forced to compete with each other for jobs. This becomes a serious problem for the system or for the political structure when the shortfall in employment coincides with a deeper structural crisis; when aggregate demand and thus investment opportunities are hindered by low employment and low wages; and when a shortage of jobs creates a political problem, sometimes even igniting popular opposition at the grassroots of society. All three of these contradictions are apparent in 2004, setting the stage for a national debate on the question of jobs, which more than three years since the beginning of the 2001 recession is now suddenly a front page story. Disposable
Workers: Today's Reserve Army of Labor These are difficult times for workers. In the wealthy countries of capitalism's center, labor is struggling to maintain existing wages and benefits against a combined assault by corporations and governments, while conditions of workers in the periphery are even more difficult. The widespread acceptance and adoption of capital's agenda—"free trade," "free markets," greater "flexibility" regarding labor, and reduced social welfare assistance—has led to one group of real winners. Transnational corporations (and their owners and top managers) now have more freedom to produce where labor and other costs are cheap, have their patents protected, and move capital in and out of countries at will. Many workers, unfortunately, are finding that their situation has become more tenuous. Workers Looking for Jobs, Unions Looking
for Members In January 2004, the U.S. labor market looked like this: Out of a civilian labor force of 146,863,000 persons, 8,297,000 were officially unemployed, meaning that they were not working but had actively sought work in the past four weeks. This gave us an official unemployment rate of 5.6 percent, down very slightly from the 5.7 percent posted in December 2003. This unemployment rate masked considerable disparities in unemployment rates by race and ethnicity. The black unemployment rate for January 2004 was 10.5 percent, and the Hispanic rate was 7.3 percent. The national average also hid differences among the states. In some parts of the country, unemployment rates were significantly higher than the national average. In the Pacific Northwest, where I have been living for the past year, signs of economic distress are easy to see. Not only have the unemployment rates of Oregon and Washington been significantly higher than the national average-7.3 percent in Oregon in December 2003; 6.8 percent in Washington-both rates were only slightly lower than they had been one year before. Homelessness of both young and old abounds. BOOK
REVIEWS A review of After the New Economy by Doug Henwood. Greater Inequality, Greater
Instability A review of Contours of Descent: U.S. Economic Fractures and the Landscape of Global Austerity by Robert Pollin. Author Index Volume 55 |
||
 |
||||
 About the Editors:
Paul M. Sweezy· Harry Magdoff Contact: Monthly Review If you have any questions or comments |
||||
|
||||
| | Top | About MR| Subscribe| Order Single Issue| Back Issues| MR Press| |
||||
All material © copyright 2003 by Monthly Review |
||||
