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122 Int'l Lab. Rev. 137 (1983)
The Notion of Structural Unemployment

handle is hein.journals/intlr122 and id is 151 raw text is: International Labour Review, Vol. 122, No. 2, March-April 1983 The notion of structural unemployment Guy STANDING* I. Introduction What is most remarkable about current levels of unemployment is the relative equanimity with which they are viewed by governments, unions, the media and the general public. If the Great Depression had analogies with the First World War perhaps the present crisis should be described as the Second World Depression, for arguably its global scale has had no historical parallel. The anguish of the unemployed and their families is evident, the despair widespread and the anger liable to erupt from time to time in various spots of particular distress. Yet overall there is a surprising complacency, a feeling that the hardship is not only bearable but in some ill-defined way necessary, coupled with official faith that the problem is structural , requiring long- term solutions outside the gamut of Keynesian manipulation of aggregate demand, which itself is seen by many as merely fuelling inflation. Many governments in industrialised countries no longer seem committed to full employment or feel bound to reflate when unemployment reaches a certain level. A sense of inevitability has induced an attitude of resignation. But if many of the unemployed or those threatened by unemployment were to realise that unemployment is seen in some quarters as an opportunity for restructuring the economic system and reversing trends towards greater equality of wealth and power, the calm might be rudely shaken. It is in that context that economists must address the claim that much of the current unemployment is structural and a reflection of a newly realised inability to achieve full employment levels of unemployment. But before the nature of the unemployment can be assessed, the concepts underlying the claims and counterclaims should be clearly defined. Too often commentators have escaped with vague references to structural unemployment when, as the following attempts to show, the term can have various meanings, most involving assumptions that are commonly overlooked. While not questioning the possible existence of structural unemployment, this article will argue that if the term is used it should be clearly defined and the assumptions explicitly recognised. * International Labour Office. Copyright © International Labour Organisation 1983

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