Lack of Productive Employment
Colonial Legacy and Post-Imperialist Practices
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32387/prokla.v55i218.2152Keywords:
Capitalism, Demography, Industrialization, Periphery, Surplus PopulationAbstract
More than half of the global labour force is only precariously employed – there is a lack of productive, formal employment. This article examines the economic, social and political reasons for this. The answer is based on a historical-materialist approach that compares the geopolitical contexts and the state of the productive forces of early and catch-up industrialisation: the long shadow of the colonial era, the significantly greater productivity gap between industry and agriculture, the significantly faster growth of the working population (medical progress and a narrower migration valve) and global economic rules that make catching up more difficult.
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