Unemployment in the Recent Recession: A Comparison of Cyclical and Marxian Theories

The recent (or ongoing) recession has affected the entire globe, though some countries have been harder hit than others. In the United States, unemployment hit higher levels than it has seen in quite some time -- more than doubling at the depth of the recession in 2010 from its pre-recession low (in the current decade) in 2006 and 2007 (USBLS, 2012). Understanding unemployment during a time when money is tight and business is slow might seem easy ("it's the economy, stupid!"), but there are actually many competing or alternate theories of unemployment. At times these theories come into direct conflict with each other, with different explanations offered for the same set of circumstances or trends, yet this does not necessarily mean that different theories or types of unemployment are mutually exclusive -- some are just applicable to specific...
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