ABSTRACT
Job loss is high on the political agenda again. In the UK there has been talk of a return to the 1930s; May 1981 saw a People’s March for Jobs. In the USA coalitions have been formed to fight plant closure. In France there have been mass demonstrations in a battle to preserve the industrial base of Lorraine. In 1980 the number of people looking for work in the European Economic Community (EEC) increased by 20 per cent. In August 1981 the EEC’s jobless total stood at a record 9.1 million. In the same year in the countries of the Organization for European Co-operation and Development (OECD) the number of people officially registered as unemployed reached 25 million.
