Reserve army of labour refers to the workers being conscripted and regimented in the workplace in a hierarchy, under the command or authority of the owners of capital. Women, young people and the elderly may all be thought of as reserve army of labour since they have traditionally stayed out of the labour force. Reserve army of labour is that segment of the labour force which is held in reserve, to be called into the work force when need arises. Reserve army of labour is synonymous with "industrial reserve army of labour" or relative surplus population. Without reserve army of labour it might be difficult for new businesses to open or for temporary or emergency projects to be undertaken in the economy. During the economic boom of the 1960-70's women reserve army of labour entered the work force in large numbers and there is fear that they will be the first fired during recession.
The term 'Reserve Army of Labor' has been useful for understanding women's relationship to the work force. Women reserve army of labour were pulled into the workforce during World War II and then pushed out when the men returned. Reserve army of labour needs to be doing something during the period it is held in reserve, so it may be on welfare or working in the household.
The unemployed can be defined as those actually looking for work and that the relative surplus population also includes people unable to work. According to Karl Marx, "Relative surplus-population is the pivot upon which the law of demand and supply of labour works." Without reserve army of labour,Richard Mille Replica Watches labour shortage would create upward pressure on wages and increase union power. Reserve army of labour refers basically to the unemployed in capitalism and capitalist society.
Disposable workers: today's reserve army of labor
by Fred Magdoff, Harry Magdoff.
But if a surplus labouring population is a necessary product of accumulation or of the
development of wealth on a capitalist basis, this surplus-population becomes, conversely,
the lever of capitalistic accumulation, nay, a condition of existence of the capitalist
mode of production. It forms a disposable industrial reserve army of labour, that belongs to capital
quite as absolutely as if the latter had bred it at its own cost.
Disabled people, the reserve army of labour and
welfare reform
Chris Grover a; Linda Piggott.
Abstract: Taking a regulation approach theoretical framework it engages with the debate
about whether disabled people can be considered to be part of the reserve army of labour.
Rejecting previous broad-brush approaches that seem to suggest that all disabled people
are part of the reserve army of labour, it argues that the policy changes have been aimed at
reconstructing non-employed disabled people as an important part of the reserve army
of labour in a
period when labour markets are becoming tighter.
Youth as a
reserve army of labour: Australia’s regional unemployment conundrum
Scott Burrows, Martin
O’Brien.
Abstract: This
article seeks to apply Marx’s Reserve Army of Labour theory to explain youth
labour market trends with a case study of the Illawarra region of New South
Wales, Australia. Statistical analysis of regional ABS labour force data reveals
both persistently high youth unemployment rates as well as dominant cyclical
activity. Findings are
congruent with the reserve army of labor and
labour market segmentation theories. The
article contributes new understandings of Marxist concepts to an important
regional issue of contemporary policy relevance.
The "Reserve Army of Labor" and the "Natural Rate of Unemployment": Can Marx.
Power, Marilyn "From Home Production to Wage Labor: Women as a Reserve Army of Labor", Review of Radical Political Economics.
Irene Bruegal, "Women as a Reserve Army of Labour: A Note on Recent British Experience", Feminist Review, no. 3, 1979, pp. 12-33.