Supply and demand is a fundamental economic concept, and unemployment is a totemic economic problem. But apply the concept to the problem, and you will not get very far. The logic of supply and demand says that if wages are high, lots of people will want to work, but few people will want to employ them; if wages are low, employers will be hungry to go hiring, but few people will want to work. At equilibrium, the number of hours available equals the number of hours people are willing to work. Unemployment is impossible, unless there is a minimum wage - this suggests, for instance, that unemployment was unknown in the UK before April 1 1999, which is not my recollection. The supply-and-demand approach offers little insight into job-market recessions, or why different countries have such different experiences of employment.
供求是一個基本的經濟概念，失業是一個標誌性的經濟問題。但如果把這一概念應用到這個問題中，你會發現這一理論不會帶來很大幫助。按照供求理論，如果薪資高，很多人會願意工作，但幾乎無人願意聘用他們；如果薪資低，僱主會願意聘用人手，但幾乎無人願意工作。在均衡水準上，現有的工作小時數與人們願意工作的時間相同。失業是不可能的，除非有最低工資——按照這個邏輯，1999年4月1日之前，失業在英國是一個陌生的概念，而這與我的回憶不符。供求理論幾乎沒有給就業市場衰退提供任何洞見，也不能解釋爲何不同國家有著如此不同的就業狀況。