The chapter sifts through common explanations for excessive unemployment: the unemployed are too lazy and too picky; untrained and unskilled, they are undesirable hires; employers discriminate against African Americans and other minorities; immigrants take all the jobs; as part of globalization, employers have sent many jobs abroad; robots take too many jobs; high wages mean that some employers cannot afford to hire; high taxes limit the money employers have for hiring. Some of these factors contribute to more unemployment in the whole economy and for special groups. But the chapter concludes that the decisive reasons why the United States rarely has full employment are found in the way unregulated capitalism thrives on a labor surplus, and in business leaders, conservative and neoliberal politicians, and economists who resist government job creation programs.