Unemployment and its causes

Abstract

Although today 10% of the working population are unemployed, this compares favourably with the situation in pre-war Britain, where, in the worst year — 1932 — the national unemployment rate was 22.1%. Unemployment means that labour, machines, land and buildings stand idle; as a result, the standard of living is lower than it need be. But the real curse is the human misery that results. Many people, without work for years, lose hope of ever finding a job; in any case skills deteriorate as the period of unemployment lengthens. Thus unemployment is usually discussed in terms of labour.