The reserve army of labour is a structural necessity of capitalism. By constantly keeping a part of the labour force unemployed or under-employed but potentially available for capital to draw on if needed, the reserve army of labour maintains the viability of capital accumulation by inflicting enormous costs on the working class. In the postwar U.S. economy, the reserve army of labour has increased from about 5-6 million in the early 1950s to around 25-30 million in the late 2000s. Average size of the reserve army, as a share of the labour force, was substantially higher in the neoliberal period (1948-1980) compared to its size in the regulated period (1948-1980). Patterns in the data suggest that the relocation of production to the low cost global periphery might be joining labour saving technical change as another important mechanism for recruiting the reserve army and disciplining labour under neoliberal capitalism.