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The rise and demise of unemployment

In: Handbook of Labour Market Policy in Advanced Democracies

Author

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  • Jérôme Gautié

Abstract

Unemployment has been considered as a great - if not the greatest - economic and social evil in rich democracies since the beginning of the 20th century. This chapter deals with unemployment as a concept - i.e., both a cognitive and public policy category. This concept was built at the end of the 19th century as a category of representation and public intervention. It became a key economic issue and policy target from the interwar period, and, after WWII, full employment was set as a priority. An ever more elaborated economic expertise played a crucial role in defining the public policies to maintain or restore low unemployment rates. But in recent decades unemployment has been increasingly questioned as a relevant category to account for the labour market slack and associated social evils.

Suggested Citation

  • Jérôme Gautié, 2023. "The rise and demise of unemployment," Chapters, in: Daniel Clegg & Niccolo Durazzi (ed.), Handbook of Labour Market Policy in Advanced Democracies, chapter 2, pages 14-26, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    • Handle: RePEc:elg:eechap:20451_2
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    File URL: https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781800880887.00008
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