Problems of Poverty: An Inquiry into the Industrial Condition of the PoorHobson, J. A. (John Atkinson)
History
Problems of Poverty: An Inquiry into the Industrial Condition of the Poor
Hobson, J. A. (John Atkinson)
Poor -- Great Britain; Sweatshops -- Great Britain; Working class -- Great Britain
These irregularities and leakages seem to explain why, at any given
time, a certain considerable number of fairly efficient and willing
workmen may be out of work. It is often urged that this class of
"unemployed" must be regarded as quite distinct from the superfluity of
low-skilled and inefficient workers found in our towns, and that the two
classes present different problems for solution. The character of the
"chronic" class of unemployed makes the problem appear to be, not one of
economic readjustment, but rather of training and education. But this
appearance is deceptive. The connection between the two kinds of
"unemployment" is much closer than is supposed. The irregularity of the
"season" and "fashion" trades, the periodic spells of bad trade, are
continually engaged in degrading and deteriorating the physique, the
morale, and the industrial efficiency of the weaker members of each
trade: these weaklings are unable to maintain a steady and healthy
standard of life under economic conditions which make work and wages
irregular, and are constantly dropping out of the more skilled trades to
swell the already congested low-skilled labour market. Every period of
"depressed trade" feeds the pool of low-skilled labour from a hundred
different channels. The connection between the two classes of
"unemployed" is, therefore, a close and vital one. To drain off this
pool would, in fact, be of little permanent use unless those
irregularities of trade, which are constantly feeding it, are also
checked.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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