Be sociable. Speak to the person next to you in the unemployment line tomorrow.
In practice, failures in system development, like unemployment in Russia,
Our present inflation is the end result of wage costs having been pushed above market level…. Wage increases above market level (which is productivity level) result only in higher prices (or unemployment), giving government no choice but to turn the money crank sufficiently to cover the price rises. The expansion of the money supply causes the inflation which is now proceeding at an ever accelerating rate….turning off the money supply suddenly will not stop an inflation without severe unemployment, unless the prices of all factors in the market are flexible—which is no longer true since labor has the power to push wages ever upward…. Nor will coercive wage and price controls stop the inflation.[p]Nor will voluntary price control work unless labor unions willingly control wages, which they will not do unless assured of receiving a satisfactory quid pro quo…. Wage increases need to be brought within productivity increases…. [L]abor will cooperate fully only when it is given adequate incentive to do so…. [This] means profit sharing with the entire spectrum of workers included…. [P]rofit sharing would provide the grand alternative to Karl Marx, who wanted to destroy private ownership and deny man’s need to own things. Capitalism should provide the reverse: individual ownership for everyone, paid for out of his own productivity and in proportion to it. [Needs citation.]
Protest against Industrial Capitalism from one aspect or another is universal: so was the protest against the condition of European religion at the beginning of the sixteenth century. One man in one mood will attack Industrial Capitalism for its destruction of beauty; another for its incompetence; another for the vileness of the men who chiefly prosper under it; another for its mere confusion and noise; another for its false values; it was until recently most fiercely attacked for its impoverishment of the workers, its margin of unemployment and the rest — indeed so fiercely that it was compelled to seek palliatives for the evil. With a mass of men it was attacked from a vague but strong sense of injustice; it allowed a few rich to exploit mankind. In the midst of all these innumerable forms of a common protest and universal ill-ease there has grown up one definite body of doctrine whose adherents are called Communists and who desired the total subversion of what had been, hitherto unquestioned among civilized European men, the general doctrines of property and individual freedom. [Hilaire Belloc, Cranmer: Archbishop of Canterbury 1533 – 1556 . Philadelphia & London: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1931, p. 56.]
Rather than providing him with economic opportunity, the Act of that name seems designed to make the poor man do penance all his life for the sin of being born into a non-capital-owning family… .One searches it in vain for measure designed to provide economic opportunity to the capital owner. But nobody proposes to educate, train, or rehabilitate either him or his children, even when their “;unemployment” is notorious.
paycheck: The weekly $5.27 that remains after deductions for federal withholding, state withholding, city withholding, FICA, medical/dental, long-term disability, unemployment insurance, Christmas Club, and payroll savings plan contributions.
Newlan's Truism: An "acceptable" level of unemployment means that the government economist to whom it is acceptable still has a job.
Here we are in America ... when do we collect unemployment?
In practice, failures in system development, like unemployment in Russia, happens a lot despite official propaganda to the contrary. -- Paul Licker
Be sociable. Speak to the person next to you in the unemployment line tomorrow.
4. Compensation of at least full wages in all loss of working capacity and unemployment.
2. Insurance to cover all categories of loss of working capacity, such as illness, infirmities, old age, childbirth, widowhood, orphanage, and unemployment.
LABOUR EXCHANGE, a term very frequently applied to registries having for their principal object the better distribution of labour (see UNEMPLOYMENT). Historically the term is applied to the system of equitable labour exchanges established in England between 1832 and 1834 by Robert Owen and his followers. The idea is said to have originated with Josiah Warren, who communicated it to Owen. Warren tried an experiment in 1828 at Cincinnati, opening an exchange under the title of a "time store." He joined in starting another at Tuscarawas, Ohio, and a third at Mount Vernon, Indiana, but none were quite on the same line as the English exchanges. The fundamental idea of the English exchanges was to establish a currency based upon labour; Owen in _The Crisis_ for June 1832 laid down that all wealth proceeded from labour and knowledge; that labour and knowledge were generally remunerated according to the time employed, and that in the new exchanges it was proposed to make _time_ the standard or measure of wealth. This new currency was represented by "labour notes," the notes being measured in hours, and the hour reckoned as being worth sixpence, this figure being taken as the mean between the wage of the best and the worst paid labour. Goods were then to be exchanged for the new currency. The exchange was opened in extensive premises in the Gray's Inn Road, near King's Cross, London, on the 3rd of September 1832. For some months the establishment met with considerable success, and a considerable number of tradesmen agreed to take labour notes in payment for their goods. At first, an enormous number of deposits was made, amounting in seventeen weeks to 445,501 hours. But difficulties soon arose from the lack of sound practical valuators, and from the inability of the promoters to distinguish between the labour of the highly skilled and that of the unskilled. Tradesmen, too, were quick to see that the exchange might be worked to their advantage; they brought unsaleable stock from their shops, exchanged it for labour notes, and then picked out the best of the saleable articles. Consequently the labour notes began to depreciate; trouble also arose with the proprietors of the premises, and the experiment came to an untimely end early in 1834. Entry: LABOUR
During the war the Eight had been practically rulers of the city, but now the _parte Guelfa_, led by Lapo da Castiglionchio and Piero degli Albizzi, attempted to reassert itself by illicit interference in the elections and by a liberal use of "admonitions" (_ammonizioni_). Salvestro de' Medici, who had always opposed the _parte_, having been elected _gonfaloniere_ in spite of its intrigues, proposed a law for the abolition of the admonitions, which was eventually passed (June 18, 1378), but the people had been aroused, and desired to break the power of the _parte_ for good. Rioting occurred on the 21st of June, and the houses of the Albizzi and other nobles were burnt. The signory meanwhile created a _balìa_ of 80 which repealed some of the laws promoted by the _parte_, and partly enfranchised the _ammoniti_. The people were still unsatisfied, the _arti minori_ demanded further privileges, and the workmen insisted that their grievances against the _arti maggiori_, especially the wool trade by whom they were employed, be redressed. A large body of _ciompi_ (wool carders) gathered outside the city and conspired to subvert the signory and establish a popular government. Although the plot, in which Salvestro does not seem to have played a part, was revealed, a good deal of mob violence occurred, and on the 21st of July the populace seized the _podestà's_ palace, which they made their headquarters. They demanded a share in the government for the _popolo minuto_, but as soon as this was granted Tommaso Strozzi, as spokesman of the _ciompi_, obliged the signory to resign their powers to the Eight. Once the people were in possession of the palace, a _ciompo_ named Michele di Lando took the lead and put a stop to disorder and pillage. He remained master of Florence for one day, during which he reformed the constitution, probably with the help of Salvestro de' Medici. Three new gilds were created, and nine priors appointed, three from the _arti maggiori_, three from the _minori_, and three from the new ones, while each of these classes in turn was to choose the _gonfaloniere_ of justice; the first to hold the office was Michele di Lando. This did not satisfy the _ciompi_, and the disorders provoked by them resulted in a new government which reformed the two councils so as to exclude the lower orders. But to satisfy the people several of the _grandi_, including Piero degli Albizzi, were put to death, on charges of conspiracy, and many others were exiled. There was perpetual rioting and anarchy, and interference in the affairs of the government by the working men, while at the same time poverty and unemployment increased owing to the timidity of capital and the disorders, until at last in 1382 a reaction set in, and order was restored by the gild companies. Again a new constitution was decreed by which the _gonfaloniere_ and half the _priori_ were to be chosen from the _arti maggiori_ and the other half from the _minori_; on several other boards the former were to be in the majority, and the three new gilds were abolished. The demagogues were executed or forced to fly, and Michele di Lando with great ingratitude was exiled. Several subsequent risings of the _ciompi_, largely of an economic character, were put down, and the Guelph families gradually regained much of their lost power, of which they availed themselves to exile their opponents and revive the odious system of _ammonizioni_. Entry: HISTORY
In Liguria, on account of the comparative rarity of large estates, agricultural labourers are in a better condition. Men earn between 1s. 3d. and 2s. 1d. a day, and women from 5d. to 8d. In Emilia the day labourers, known as _disobbligati_, earn, on the contrary, low wages, out of which they have to provide for shelter and to lay by something against unemployment. Their condition is miserable. In Tuscany, however, the prevalence of _mezzadria_, properly so called, has raised the labourers' position. Yet in some Tuscan provinces, as, for instance, that of Grosseto, where malaria rages, labourers are organized in gangs under "corporals," who undertake harvest work. They are poverty-stricken, and easily fall victims to fever. In the Abruzzi and in Apulia both regular and irregular workmen are engaged by the year. The _curatori_ or _curatoli_ (factors) receive £40 a year, with a slight interest in the profits; the stockmen hardly earn in money and kind £13; the muleteers and under-workmen get between £5 to £8, plus firewood, bread and oil; irregular workmen have even lower wages, with a daily distribution of bread, salt and oil. In Campania and Calabria the _curatoli_ and _massari_ earn, in money and kind, about £12 a year; cowmen, shepherds and muleteers about £10; irregular workmen are paid from 8½d. to 1s. 8d. per day, but only find employment, on an average, 230 days in the year. The condition of Sicilian labourers is also miserable. The huge extent of the _latifondi_, or large estates, often results in their being left in the hands of speculators, who exploit both workmen and farmers with such usury that the latter are often compelled, at the end of a scanty year, to hand over their crops to the usurers before harvest. In Sardinia wage-earners are paid 10d. a day, with free shelter and an allotment for private cultivation. Irregular adult workmen earn between 10d. and 1s. 3d., and boys from 6d. to 10d. a day. Woodcutters and vine-waterers, however, sometimes earn as much as 3s. a day. Entry: A
One consequence of the agrarian agitations was the increased use of machinery and the reduction in the number of hands employed, which if it proved advantageous to the landlord and to the few labourers retained, who received higher wages, resulted in an increase of unemployment. The Socialist party, which had grown powerful under a series of weak-kneed administrations, now began to show signs of division; on the one hand there was the revolutionary wing, led by Signor Enrico Ferri, the Mantuan deputy, which advocated a policy of uncompromising class warfare, and on the other the _riformisti_, or moderate Socialists, led by Signor Filippo Turati, deputy for Milan, who adopted a more conciliatory attitude and were ready to ally themselves with other parliamentary parties. Later the division took another aspect, the extreme wing being constituted by the _sindacalisti_, who were opposed to all legislative parliamentary action and favoured only direct revolutionary propaganda by means of the _sindacati_ or unions which organized strikes and demonstrations. In March 1902 agrarian strikes organized by the _leghe_ broke out in the district of Copparo and Polesine (lower valley of the Po), owing to a dispute about the labour contracts, and in Apulia on account of unemployment. In August there were strikes among the dock labourers of Genoa and the iron workers of Florence; the latter agitation developed into a general strike in that city, which aroused widespread indignation among the orderly part of the population and ended without any definite result. At Como 15,000 textile workers remained on strike for nearly a month, but there were no disorders. Entry: G
_Canada_.--The first enumeration of what was afterwards called Lower Canada, took place, as above stated, in 1665, and dealt with the legal, or domiciled, population, not with that actually present at the time of the census, a practice still maintained, in contrast to that prevailing in the rest of the empire. The record was by families, and included the sex, age and civil condition of each individual, with a partial return of profession or trade. Later on, the last item was abandoned in favour of a fuller return of agricultural resources, a feature which has remained a prominent part of the inquiry. After the British occupation, a census was taken in 1765 and 1784, and annually from 1824 to 1842, the information asked for differing from time to time. Enumerations were conducted independently by the different states until 1871, when the first federal census was taken of the older parts of the Dominion. Since then, the enumeration has been decennial, except in the case of the more recently colonized territories of Manitoba and the North-West, where an intermediate census was found necessary in 1885-1886. The census of Canada is organized on the plan adopted in the United States rather than in accordance with British practice, and includes much which is the subject of annual returns in the latter country, or is not officially collected at all. The details of deaths in the year preceding the census, for instance, are called for, there being no registration of such occurrences in the rural tracts. In consideration of the large immigrant population again, the birthplace of each parent is recorded, with details as to nationality, naturalization and date of immigration. Occupation is dealt with minutely, in conjunction with temporary unemployment, average wage or salary earned, and other particulars. No less than eleven schedules are employed, most of them relating to details of industries and production. The duty of filling up so comprehensive a return, involving an answer to 561 questions, is not left to the householder, but entrusted to enumerators specially engaged, working under the supervision of the Department of Agriculture. Owing to the sparse population and difficulties of communication in a great part of the dominion, the inquiry, though referred to a single date, is not completed on that day, a month being allowed to the enumerator for the collection of his returns and their revision and transmission to the central office. A special feature in the operations is the provision, necessitated by the record of the _legal_ population, for the inclusion in the local return of the persons temporarily absent on the date of the census, and their adjustment in the general aggregates, a matter to which considerable attention is paid. The very large mass of detail collected at these inquiries entails an unusually long time spent in compilation; the statistics of population, accordingly, are available considerably in advance of those relating to production and industries. Entry: THE
EXCHANGE, in general, the action of mutual giving and receiving objects, interests, benefits, rights, &c. The word comes through the French from the Late Lat. _excambium_ (see EXCAMBION). The present article deals with the theory and practice of exchange in monetary transactions, but this may conveniently be prefaced by a brief statement as to the law relating to the exchange of property and other matters. In English law exchange is defined as the mutual grant of equal interests, the one in consideration of the other. The ancient common law conveyance had certain restrictions, e.g. identity in quantity of interest, fee-simple for fee-simple, &c., entry to perfect the conveyance, and an implied warranty of title and right of entry by either party in case of eviction. Such exchanges are now effected by mutual conveyances with the usual covenants for title. Exchanges are also frequently made by order of the Board of Agriculture under the Inclosure Acts, and there are also statutes enabling ecclesiastical corporations to exchange benefices with the approval of the ecclesiastical commissioners. The international exchange of territories is effected by treaties. The exchange of prisoners of war is regulated by documents called "cartels" (Med. Lat. _cartellus_, diminutive of _carta_, paper, bill), which specify a certain agreed-on value for each rank of prisoners. The practice superseded the older one of ransom at the end of a war. By the Regimental Exchanges Act 1875 the sovereign may by regulation authorize exchanges by officers from one regiment to another. (For "labour exchanges" see UNEMPLOYMENT.) Entry: EXCHANGE
In 1901-1902 the social economic condition of Italy was a matter of grave concern. The strikes and other economic agitations at this time may be divided roughly into three groups: strikes in industrial centres for higher wages, shorter hours and better labour conditions generally; strikes of agricultural labourers in northern Italy for better contracts with the landlords; disturbances among the south Italian peasantry due to low wages, unemployment (particularly in Apulia), and the claims of the labourers to public land occupied illegally by the landlords, combined with local feuds and the struggle for power of the various influential families. The prime cause in most cases was the unsatisfactory economic condition of the working classes, which they realized all the more vividly for the very improvements that had been made in it, while education and better communications enabled them to organize themselves. Unfortunately these genuine grievances were taken advantage of by the Socialists for their own purposes, and strikes and disorders were sometimes promoted without cause and conciliation impeded by outsiders who acted from motives of personal ambition or profit. Moreover, while many strikes were quite orderly, the turbulent character of a part of the Italian people and their hatred of authority often converted peaceful demands for better conditions into dangerous riots, in which the dregs of the urban population (known as _teppisti_ or the _mala vita_) joined. Entry: G
While the endeavour to enforce labour apart from a contract died out in the latter end of the 18th century, sentiment for some time had strongly grown in favour of developing early industrial training of children. It appears to have been a special object of charitable and philanthropic endeavour in the 17th century, as well as the 18th, to found houses of industry, in which little children, even under five years of age, might be trained for apprenticeship with employers. Connected as this development was with poor relief, one of its chief aims was to prevent future unemployment and vagrancy by training in habits and knowledge of industry, but not unavowed was another motive: "from children thus trained up to constant labour we may venture to hope the lowering of its price."[5] The evils and excesses which lay enfolded within such a movement gave the first impulse to the new ventures in labour legislation which are specially the work of the 19th century. Evident as it is "that before the Industrial Revolution very young children were largely employed both in their own homes and as apprentices under the Poor Law," and that "long before Peel's time there were misgivings about the apprenticeship system," still it needed the concentration and prominence of suffering and injury to child life in the factory system to lead to parliamentary intervention. Entry: 2