Is unemployment necessary for a functioning economy?

[kasse]

Wherever we are and wherever we look, there is work to be done, work for our subsistence and well-being, for food, shelter, clothing and countless other wants, to build and create, or just to clean and maintain. Labor, though, is scarcer by tar than tools and equipment. Just visit a workshop, factory, office or construction site. There, expensive equipment is used for a few minutes of hours only, standing idle most of the time. Or just walk through the streets of most cities; they cry out for labor to clean and maintain, to repair and rebuild.

Yet millions of workers in the industrial countries are unemployed. Some seven to eight million Americans always are normally unemployed, many more during periods of stagnation and decline.

Why is this? Is it because of government regulation? Is a certain degree of unemployment healthy for the economy, after all? Is it true that 0% unemployment would allow the workers to push their wages up, thereby creating inflation?

 

[Cyrus]

Wherever we are and wherever we look, there is work to be done, work for our subsistence and well-being, for food, shelter, clothing and countless other wants, to build and create, or just to clean and maintain.

Do you see piles of money lying around to pay for this work while you're looking?

Just visit a workshop, factory, office or construction site. There, expensive equipment is used for a few minutes of hours only, standing idle most of the time.

You should visit more workshops, factories and construction sites then. This statement is wrong.

Or just walk through the streets of most cities; they cry out for labor to clean and maintain, to repair and rebuild.

DC is nice, clean and well maintained to me.

Why is this? Is it because of government regulation? Is a certain degree of unemployment healthy for the economy, after all? Is it true that 0% unemployment would allow the workers to push their wages up, thereby creating inflation?

Prehaps you should look online for a government study that looks into answering this question. It will give you more insight than speculative posts.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

I don't think unemployment is so much an issue of lack of work that could be done but lack of funds to pay for the work to be done. If you go to a rich neighbourhood they will likely have rather clean streets and few unemployed people. Go to a poorer neighbourhood and you will likely find dirtier streets and more unemployed people.

 

[russ_watters]

Labor is a market like any other and as such it is subject to the rules of supply and demand. Unemployment is a natural consequence of that.

 

[rootX]

You cannot have 0% unemployment.
- Some people are voluntary unemployed. (Not a concern)
- Some people don't find right jobs .
- Companies fail to get people who have the right skills. (big concern)
- Some employers simply don't have enough money to pay workers (not a big concern)