L'adaptation de l'offre à la demande de travail

Abstract

The adaptation of the supply of labour to the demand. For the classics the market for jobs was not a relevant subject for study. For them the problem was that of the supply of and demand for labour i. e. the problem of population changes. In the long run the supply of work adapts itself to the demand. For Keynes the problem was that of the determination of the level of the supply of jobs, particularly when it was lower than the supply of labour. Modern analysis considers that the supply of jobs depends on a series of factors of which the wage rate is not the most important. But the classics were right in linking the supply of labour to the state of the population. Consequently, the solution of the problem of the equalization of the supply of and demand for labour depends upon two stes of relatively independent factors. The adaptation of the two elements depends upon the state of technical progress and the lenght of the working week, the two factors being related. But this conclusion renders the concept of a labour market extremely imprecise. Structural unemployment is an example of a fundamental lack of adaptation of the supply of jobs to the population. The examples of the United Kingdom between the two wars, modern Italy and the United States in the 19th century illustrate the relationship between this type of unemployment and the level of investment. A study of the adaptation of the supply of labour in the short period brings out the high level of elasticity which affects certain marginal groups (adolescents, older workers and women). Finally, the importance of non-salaried employment cannot be divorced from a study of the state of employment as a whole.