1a. The number of people drawing unemployment benefits may be quite different from the number of unemployed. In Texas in 2010, for example, fewer than 50% of the officially unemployed managed to get the tightfisted state to turn lose of any benefits! Please look over the written material or just pick another answer
Employers would surely lie about he number of unemployed, because they pay taxes based on their layoffs. Please look over the written material or just pick another answer
RIGHT! They survey the jobless. It's far from perfect, but it's what they use. Please SKIP TO THE NEXT QUESTION.
Answer d is about the same as answer a, and they're both wrong. The dollar amount of jobless benefits has nothing to do with the "official" count of unemployed. Please look over the written material or just pick another answer
. You're right, but that's not all. Please look over the written material or just pick another answer
RIGHT! The "official" unemployment rate hides more than it reveals. Please SKIP TO THE NEXT QUESTION.
If unemployment caused suffering for everybody, you'd be right, but it doesn't. Please look over the written material or just pick another answer
Members of very wealthy families are "unemployed" for life, but do they care? Please look over the written material or just pick another answer
RIGHT! They try to hide it under a great big capital "WE," but that pesky pronoun has hidden meanings in class society. Please SKIP TO THE NEXT
I was hoping nobody would pick this one. It's based on the idea that weak people should die. Please look over the written material or just pick another answer
One often seens articles in the capitalist news about how wonderful layoffs were for some guy who was fired from a factory but then found his true life's work in an art gallery somewhere. What nonsense! Please look over the written material or just pick another answer
RIGHT! The only reason it isn't obvious is that capitalism controls our information sources and tells us what they want us to know. Please SKIP TO THE NEXT QUESTION.
This "blame the victim" concept is propagated all through capitalism, especially in bosses' speeches. Unfotunately, there's always someone who will fall for it. Please look over the written material or just pick another answer
American workers have "priced themselves out of the market" say the capitalists. Please look over the written material or just pick another answer
In other words, they are saying that unemployment is just a natural disaster, like lightning or an earthquake. Nobody's fault. Certainly not the capitalists'! Please look over the written material or just pick another answer
So we're being taken over by soul-less robots. Nobody responsible? Please look over the written material or just pick another answer
RIGHT! Not only can then, but they have! The WPA and the CCC were great job providers in the Roosevelt Administration. Please SKIP TO THE NEXT QUESTION.
Well, they could do it, but they certainly don't want to. Even in the 1930s, it took powerful mass action to get the federal government to help. Please look over the written material or just pick another answer
Whether they love us or hate us, capitalists and their lackeys in government do what they do for the same old reason -- profits. Please look over the written material or just pick another answer
"We can't afford to help workers," is the common cry of capitalist politicians. They can help bankers. They can help military contrators. They can help themselves, but they can't help workers. Or so they unceasingly say. Please look over the written material or just pick another answer
Actually, it does mean that more wealth is being created. Every hour! Please look over the written material or just pick another answer
One annual change in productivity may not look like much, and adding them together doesn't look like nearly as much as it is when they are compounded, like compound interest. Each year's base is bigger than the previous year, and it really adds up. Please look over the written material or just pick another answer
RIGHT! The benefits are very real, but we don't get much of them. Actually, the pundits say that American workers realized wage increases somewhat similar to their productivity increases 1947-1958 (the height of union power), then they didn't. But wage increases do not affect unemployment, except possibly in a negative way. Only reductions in working hours would have kept our workforce (and our unions) strong. Please SKIP TO THE NEXT QUESTION.
No it didn't. The gap between rich Americans and poor Americans has grown fantastically. Please look over the written material or just pick another answer
People like to get overtime pay, to be sure, but not overtime hours. If they could get the pay without the hours, they'd be fine with it. Please look over the written material or just pick another answer
RIGHT! Capitalists want those unit labor costs low! Thanks for doing this little exercise. The school will continue to improve if you provide feedback
It would have made a big difference. If we kept everything running and went to a 6-hour workday instead of 8-hours, then we could have 8 people working 48 man-hours instead of 6! Unemployment drops 25%! Please look over the written material or just pick another answer
Some of these answers seem really silly when you think about it, but they are commonly espoused by capitalist information sources. Please look over the written material or just pick another answer