And when too many people are employed and wages rise as a result, capitalistic enterprises become less profitable. At a certain point all profit would be lost to wages. Long before this point is reached, however, an employer must 'unemploy' some of its workers in order to remain profitable. Thus capitalism has the mechanism which creates unemployment built into its very fundamental principles. Full employment cannot be attained in a competitive capitalistic economy, and workers are thus oppressed into poverty by the economic system itself.
Layoffs are another form of capitalistic oppression.
Traditionally, layoffs have been a way in which businesses have coped with an economic depression. The typical layoffs were largely industrial and blue-collar workers. According to a New York Times poll, a third of all American households have experienced a layoff in the last 15 years. Decent paying jobs in America have been replaced by jobs with lower wages, fewer benefits, and more hours. While layoffs have been a part of every recession, now they are occurring in larger numbers during an economic recovery.