Reserve army of labour

[Die Neue Zeit]

The thing that got me interested in this concept of "reserve army of labour" within the past hour was this Yahoo! news article on immigration in general (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070819/ap_on_bi_ge/immigration_4). I don't know what extent the increased immigration and illegal immigration is related to the "reserve army of labour" concept, so I'd like to learn more.

I know that the classical concept deals with unemployment, but what about underemployment?

[BreadBros]

Thats a pretty good article on remittances, but I'm not sure what the ties to reserve labor or underemployment are. Care to elaborate? My two cents on the other things you mention in the abstract:

I'm not sure you can really call immigrants (illegal or otherwise) a reserve army of labor. In many places they are the army of labor. In some cities in America, if you took the immigrants away (particularly illegal immigrants) quite simply a great deal of the productive/manufacturing economy would shut down because those industries are heavily Latino/Asian immigrants.

Underemployment is an interesting topic. With countries like China and India essentially entering into solid relations with the First World economy (as represented by the G8 trade partners, the WTO etc) then that means an even larger labor pool is created that can be readily accessed. The problem is that the wage system propels a great # of those into precarity: a position where economic status or employment isn't solidly established. A trend that I think will increase in the US and First World. Another possible piece of evidence that capitalism is increasingly entering tenuous ground?

[Janus]

I don't know what extent the increased immigration and illegal immigration is related to the "reserve army of labour" concept
The composition of the industrial reserve army is usually largely composed of immigrants who help to satisfy the desire of capitalists for cheaper labor.

Here's a good article on it:
Today's reserve army of labor (http://www.monthlyreview.org/0404magdoff.htm)


I know that the classical concept deals with unemployment, but what about underemployment?
In such cases, workers are usually "imported" (UAE for instance). Thus, they are an industrial reserve army albeit a global one.