Wednesday, September 01, 2021

How a Dictatorship Eliminated Unemployment

 'Miss, you are not unemployed,' she barked.

'Of course, I'm unemployed,' Julia said. 'Why else would I be here?'

'This is the Employment Office, not the Unemployment Office. You are not unemployed, you are seeking work.'

Julia wasn't daunted. 'I'm seeking work,' she said, 'because I am unemployed.'

The woman started to shout so loudly the people in the queue hunched their shoulders. 'I said, you are not unemployed! You are seeking work!' and then, almost hysterically, 'There is no unemployment in the German Democratic Republic!'

- From Stasiland by Anna Funder

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