Involuntary Unemployment And Its Effects On The Economy

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Contrary to what some economists believe, involuntary unemployment is a very real and continuous presence in the economy, both past and present. In the United States, the unemployment rate measures the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labour force. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the current unemployment rate is at 5.4 percent, down from the high unemployment levels of a lingering 10 percent during the most recent recession less than six years ago. This rate fails to include other failures in reaching full employment, such as “the number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) … These individuals, who would have preferred full-time employment, were working part time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job” (Taborda, BLS). Involuntary unemployment is a common occurrence in capitalism that happens when, rather than simply not choosing to work at the set wage, a person is willing to work at the prevailing wage and yet remains unemployed. What many economists have sought and continue to seek to find out is the cause of high unemployment levels, whether that be what motivates humans to act in the economy or the nature of the system of capitalism. Some modern economists praise our current economic system of capitalism and suggest that it is not the cause of prolonged recessions while others condemn its
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