Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff

Episode: "Unemployment: Cruel, Wasteful, Unnecessary"

Date: May 7, 2020
Host: Richard D. Wolff, Democracy at Work

Overview

In this episode, Richard D. Wolff examines the devastation of mass unemployment in the United States amid the COVID-19 crisis, critically exploring its roots in the capitalist system. He argues that unemployment is not only cruel and wasteful but entirely unnecessary. Wolff contrasts unemployment with possible alternatives, such as federal job guarantees and worker cooperatives, and offers concrete proposals for “re-employment” as a humane and efficient response to economic crises.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Nature and Impact of Unemployment

• Unemployment as a Deliberate Decision

  • Unemployment occurs when employers find it more profitable to lay off workers rather than keep them (01:15).
  • “Unemployment is a decision made by employers to take away your job.” (01:35)

• Redistribution of Wealth

  • While working, people both contribute to and take from the economy. The unemployed continue to consume but no longer contribute, necessitating a redistribution from the employed to the unemployed, either socially via taxes or privately within families. (03:05)
  • Not just the unemployed suffer; their families, employed peers, and eventually capitalists themselves (through lower profits) also lose out. (04:35)

• Unemployment as Capitalist Discipline

  • Employers benefit from a “reserve army” of unemployed to discipline the workforce:
    • “Don’t you act up... there’s lots of unemployed out there I can go give this job to.” (06:20)
  • “It’s the irrationality of capitalism – this crazy system that needs to keep people unemployed... because that’s how the system allows the employer to keep the upper hand.” (07:10)

2. The Case for Re-Employment

• Historical Precedent: The New Deal

  • During the Great Depression (1934–1941), the US federal government acted as an “employer of last resort,” providing jobs through programs like the WPA (Works Progress Administration) and CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps).
    • “Millions of workers in the 1930s did not have to turn... to the government or their relatives... for benefits. They were re-employed by the government.” (11:30)
    • WPA example: artists, musicians, actors were hired for cultural enrichment; CCC focused on ecological projects (reforestation, building national parks). (13:15)

• Missed Opportunities: Worker Co-ops

  • The US could have gone further, funding unemployed workers to form cooperatives—giving Americans a firsthand experience of democratic workplace organization. (16:25)
  • “We could have in short turned the bad thing of unemployment into a good thing... Giving Americans real choice for the first time in how to organize their economy.” (17:30)

• Contemporary Amnesia

  • Wolff criticizes the lack of similar policies during and after the 2008 financial crisis and in current responses, blaming education and political priorities. (19:10‑21:10)

3. Practical Examples of Re-Employment (Second Half)

• Federal Jobs & Worker Co-ops—Concrete Possibilities

  • The US could mix federal job guarantees with support for worker co-ops, incentivizing re-employment over unemployment benefits. (23:00)

• Projects for Immediate Re-Employment

  • Mass Testing for COVID-19
    • Use millions of unemployed people for a coordinated national testing effort, accelerating a safe return to work.
      • “Let’s use millions, if we need them, of the unemployed... to do the kind of testing quickly and nationally that we have needed for at least the last two months and still don’t have.” (26:00)
  • Climate Change Response
    • Engage workers in reforestation, park creation, carbon capture efforts, and building mass public transportation infrastructure (29:15).
  • Public Health Preparedness
    • Re-employed workers can manufacture and stockpile medical supplies, ensuring readiness for future pandemics. (31:40)
  • Workplace Reorganization
    • Reconfigure workplaces for social distancing, train workers in cleaning and disinfection (33:15).
  • Expanded Education
    • Deploy unemployed teachers and skilled workers for large-scale tutoring and lifelong learning via digital channels (34:10).
  • Infrastructure & Housing
    • Task forces for rebuilding dilapidated housing (especially for the homeless) and repairing public infrastructure (roads, harbors, riverbeds) (36:20).

4. Systemic Critique and Call to Action

• Capitalism's Failure

  • The crisis exposed how profit-motives prevented preparation for foreseeable disasters like the pandemic (40:00).
  • Politicians, as “creatures of capitalism,” failed to intervene when capitalists would not act; instead, they compounded harm by exacerbating unemployment (42:00).

• Unemployment as a Tool of Control

  • Maintaining a pool of desperate job-seekers keeps wages lower and workers compliant.
  • “Unemployment is good for... capitalists to stay on top. It’s not good for the unemployed people. And... it’s not good for the capitalists, either. They’re losing profits because the people who aren’t working could be making profits for them. But this system has decided for them. They’d rather suffer the loss of unemployment than suffer the risk of [worker empowerment].” (38:00)

• Vision for the Future

  • “Re-employment allows us to... give people the dignity of the job, but also to create the option of worker co-ops for Americans to experience, to see, to have them fostered... RE employment is not only better than unemployment, it teaches us what it means in practical terms to do better than capitalism.” (46:13)
  • “We can do better than unemployment... RE employment is more than a better alternative... it teaches us in practical terms to do better than capitalism.” (48:20)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Unemployment is a decision made by employers to take away your job.” (01:35)
• “Everybody loses from unemployment. The workers who are unemployed, the people still employed who have to help take care of those that are unemployed, and even the employer loses.” (04:30)
• “It’s the irrationality of capitalism—the crazy system that needs to keep people unemployed even though nobody wants it.” (07:10)
• “We could make the incentives built in... [for] what you could earn in a worker co-op or federal job [to be] more than what you get from sitting unemployed.” (23:15)
• “Wasting the resource of unemployed people means we cannot become safe for our children and generations to come.” (34:25)
• “Unemployment is a cataclysmic waste... We should never have followed up the crisis of the virus with unemployment.” (43:10)
• “We are living through a collapse of capitalism in the face of a virus and in the face of its own unfortunate tendency to think that unemployment is a reasonable thing for adults to do. It never was and it isn't now.” (45:50)
• “RE employment is not only better than unemployment, it teaches us what it means in practical terms to do better than capitalism.” (48:20)

Timeline of Important Segments

• 00:45–07:10 – The roots and purpose of unemployment in capitalism
• 07:10–11:30 – The unnecessary cruelty and inefficiency of unemployment; comparison to historical ills
• 11:30–17:30 – The New Deal’s government job programs and their societal benefits
• 17:30–21:10 – Missed historical and contemporary opportunities; lack of worker co-op development
• 23:00–24:10 – How a re-employment system could work today
• 26:00–36:00 – Concrete examples of jobs for re-employed workers (testing, climate, health, infrastructure, education)
• 38:00–42:20 – Critique: why capitalism chooses unemployment
• 45:50–48:20 – Final arguments for re-employment as a superior economic and societal model

Conclusion

Richard D. Wolff’s episode is a passionate and deeply critical analysis of unemployment as an unnecessary, inefficient, and inhumane outcome of capitalism. Drawing on US history and present crises, he outlines the possibility of a humane and productive alternative—“re-employment”—through federal job guarantees and support for worker cooperatives. The episode is ultimately a call for listeners to reimagine economic organization—not just to end unemployment, but to foster economic democracy and social resilience.