Kasz216 said:
Although his gross generalziation is silly... it is worth noting that until recently unemployment had been a huge problem among pretty much all socilized nations... to the point of where such high unemployment was termed "Eurostasis". The kind of unemployment Germany had in the 90's 2000's is the kind of unemployment that would of caused panic in the streets US wise. Up until about 05. German unemploynment was lucky to be below 9%. As an example http://www.newsneconomics.com/2010/07/crib-notes-for-g7-unemployment-rates.html The one exception was Denmark, who while highly socialized had some of the most liberal (As in oldschool liberal IE Rightwing) labor policy laws in the world. More so then the US even.
German Unemployment now tends to be low because there is no minium wage.
Socialism really isn't the issue when it comes to unemployment policy wise. It's labor market liberalization that matters |
Good post and Denmark is a great example of having both a well developed socialist state and a liberal labor market. When talking german unemployment quotes you should never forget the costs of reunification, though. After 1989 economy in former east Germany basically imploded - they simply couldn't compete. Since then unemployment in the new german states has been roughly twice as high (11.3% vs 6.0% in 2011) than unemployment in the western parts. (Check out this link: http://www.spiegel.de/flash/flash-12125.html )
And I totally agree with the last line. A liberal labor market and a socialist welfare state actually complement each other in some ways.
