While the Obama Administration babbles about a supposed “economic recovery” over 33 million U.S. workers are still looking for non-existent jobs. There is only one job for every six jobless workers. The unemployment rate is really 21.6% according to ShadowStats.org which includes short- and long-term discouraged workers and underemployed workers, dwarfing the “official” 9.5% unemployment rate.
Many economists are calling this current “above-normal” level of unemployment the “new normal.” The Atlantic’s Don Peck says this could be the beginning of a “lost decade.” It will fundamentally transform a whole generation, as families fall apart, neighborhoods fall into turmoil and young workers see their lifespan significantly shortened due to the effects of continuous unemployment.
With over 8.4 million jobs lost in this economic depression, it’s become increasingly clear that recovery for many workers will be impossible. In order to provide jobs for the 1.5 million people joining the labor force each year and to return to the “normal” 5% unemployment rate in five years, the economy would have to create 250,000 jobs a month.
Then, to reach a “recovery” in two years that jumps to over 600,000 new jobs every month. In the last 20 years there has not been one monthly average job growth of 250,000. In fact, since 1989 the average has been 91,000 a month, far short of what capitalism needs for a “normal” recovery.
Now, as of July 30, 108 banks have failed this year alone, a pace exceeding the 140 bank failures in 2009. The collapse of the housing market is actually accelerating, with a record one million home foreclosures predicted for 2010. Bank of America hopes to be able to foreclose on 45,000 homes per month by December. And consumer spending, which accounts for 70% of total economic activity, continues to fall far short of expectations.
In short, the “recovery myth” is a political cover for an economic depression that is continually worsening. The current crisis U.S. unemployment levels are unlikely to ever decline, and may very well increase in coming years.
Workers Sped Up, Earn Less; Bosses Sit On $1.8 Trillion
The fear of unemployment and layoffs has allowed U.S. companies to speed up workers while cutting pay. Today workers are working 10% fewer hours while production remains at pre-cutback levels. This means they’re working a lot harder for a lot less. Consequently non-financial companies are sitting on $1.8 trillion and are still refusing to hire new workers.
The NY Times praised German “recovery,” quoting a German economist that, “Fear of unemployment made workers more willing to accept concessions.” By “resisting a rise in wages” German capitalists have profited handsomely, a victory for capitalism says the Times.
But the unemployment lifting capitalist profits is deadly for workers. The average life-span of a worker losing a job at 30 is reduced by 1½ years when compared with those who’ve never lost their job. As CHALLENGE has repeatedly noted from a 1971 Congressional report, a 1.4% rise in unemployment leads to 30,000 deaths over the following five years. A 3% increase in unemployment raises the suicide rate by 4.5%.
The racism that causes black and Latino workers to be the first fired and last hired makes them especially vulnerable to deadly unemployment. Black and Latino workers suffer unemployment rates twice that of white workers. This is a direct result of racist hiring practices designed to keep workers’ divided and wages down.
Capitalists Unconcerned With Recovery for Workers
When economists talk about returning unemployment rates to the “normal” 5%, that means still over eight million workers on the streets! Capitalists are incapable of providing full employment. Only communism can transform work from a mechanism for the profit of the few into a liberating force for the world’s working class.
For capitalists, workers’ lives are always secondary to profits. To escape the evils of unemployment and its deadly side effects, the whole capitalist system must be destroyed. This begins with fighting the bosses’ plan to build their recovery on the backs of the working class. Employed and unemployed workers must unite to fight layoffs, evictions and foreclosures and racist bosses’ imperialist wars. Ultimately unemployed workers, as all workers, must be won to join PLP and organize to replace the profit system with a communist society free of bosses, profits, racism and war. J
On October 2, Reject The Bosses Elections and Fight for Communist Revolution
Under the guise of launching a movement for jobs, the agents of the Rockefeller wing of the capitalist ruling class in the mass movement are organizing a mass demonstration on October 2 in Washington, D.C. to channel workers’ anger into working for Democratic Party candidates in the upcoming Congressional elections. Its goal: keep workers’ anger against racist unemployment under the tight control of the union misleaders and the NAACP and slap down the bosses’ rivals in the racist Tea Party.
We must not think that the Rockefeller-led bosses are “lesser evils” compared to the Tea Party fascists. Actually, the Rockefeller wing, which tends to look towards the longer-term interests of the imperialist system as a whole, will strengthen its ability to impose fascism and wage wars far better than the amateur fascists in the Tea Party.
Initiated by Local 1199 of the SEIU and the NAACP, the October 2 “March for Jobs, Justice, and Peace” has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO leadership, possibly ensuring a massive turnout. The build-up to this event is an important opportunity for PL’s revolutionary communists to deepen their ties in the mass organizations being recruited for this demonstration. We will expose the bosses and their agents in the workers’ movement and fight for a revolutionary path instead of an electoral one.
The fight against racist unemployment must be a priority for revolutionaries. We should never side with one group of bosses against another — they will always serve their own interests, not ours. The current economic crisis has demonstrated yet again that capitalism can never serve us, and must be destroyed by communist revolution so that we workers can organize society to meet the needs of our class on an international basis. Join us on October 2 to expose the misleaders and build for workers’ revolution worldwide!