Labour Rationing, Involuntary Unemployment, Underemployment, and Malemployment. A Conceptual Elucidation

The basic claim of this paper is that the debate on involuntary unemployment has been blurred by a series of conceptual confusions. As a remedy, a twofold distinction is advocated. One is between involuntary unemployment and underemployment which, it is argued, are mutually exclusive concepts. Keynes’ failure to make this distinction as well as the present persistence of the confusion, are documented. The second distinction is between labour rationing and involuntary unemployment, the former being a necessary yet insufficient condition for the latter. Labour rationing without involuntary unemployment is here labelled malemployment.