Unemployment, the failure to obtain employment that earns wages or salaries paid
in money, thus has a dire impact on the jobless, and is also associated with tremendous
social and economic costs for society as a whole. Whereas in neoclassical economics,
market systems possess an inherent tendency to full employment, in Post Keynesian
economics unemployment is seen as a normal feature of capitalist economies. The
effective demand problem means that capitalist economies have trouble attaining full
employment, while the structural change problem means that capitalist economies have
trouble maintaining full employment, even if it could be attained. In addition, some Post
Keynesians—echoing Marx—have identified the functionality of unemployment, which
presents obstacles to Post Keynesian economic policies to eliminate unemployment.
Nevertheless, Post Keynesian economics does suggest policies that might assist capitalist