[lbo-talk] Wage-slave harder and longer : die...

Jim Devine jdevine03 at gmail.com
Wed Apr 19 12:56:09 PDT 2006


On the other hand, studies have shown that the higher the unemployment rate, the more suicides there are, the more murders, the more alcoholism, etc.

so maybe we can find the "optimal" death-minimizing rate of unemployment (the ODMRU) and convince the Fed to steer the economy to it?

Seriously, one thing that's going on is the slow trend toward the abolition of overt unemployment (what's measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics) and the rise of people being forced by circumstances to immediately grab any job that's available just because it's so expensive to be unemployed. (In a lot of poor countries, there is little or no open unemployment, because it's so hard to survive without a job.) So the distinction between employment and unemployment is becoming fuzzier.

On 4/19/06, Mike Ballard <swillsqueal at yahoo.com.au> wrote:
> According to a recent US study:
>
> "When the economy heats up, people often end up working more overtime" (whilst
> neglecting health)...."
>
> "A 1 percentage point drop in unemployment is estimated to raise mortality by
> 1.3 percent or 2,515 additional deaths per year from heart attacks, the study
> showed. The mortality rate is similar for males and females."
>
> full:
> http://tinyurl.com/oy9lb
>
> Just another argument for a shorter work week...
>
> Workers of the world, relax. The job and life you save, may be your own.
>
> Regards,
> Mike B)
>
> Read "The Perthian Brickburner":
> http://profiles.yahoo.com/swillsqueal
>
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-- Jim Devine / "There can be no real individual freedom in the presence of economic insecurity." -- Chester Bowles



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