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A resounding belief these days (particularly noticeable on this forum) is that labor demand is far less than labor supply and, due to technological advances, labor demand is only going to decrease while labor supply remains the same or continues to grow.
As a twenty-something with potentially 40+ years left to work, I am generally concerned by this alarming idea that jobs will become so few and far in between that we will literally be fighting for the opportunity to earn a living. Even more alarming is what I observe on this forum. People, particularly more concerned about their investment portfolio, seem thrilled! Some even go so far as to boast about how great it is that their stocks are going to continue rising as a result. Perhaps without intending or realizing, they come across as taking joy in rubbing in this idea that there won't be enough jobs left while they are rolling around in cash from their stocks.
Are most of you people here not concerned with this potential issue? If so, why? Are you nearing retirement and that's why the state of the job market doesn't matter to you much? Do you generally take pleasure in someone else's misery? What is it that excites you about this idea of a diminishing job market left for your children and grand-children?
One possibility is that the present imbalance between labor-demand and labor-supply is temporary. It's temporary because consumer demand is weak. One way to reinvigorate the economy is to create artificial demand (stimulus). This approach has been tried, but is controversial. Some people say that this is all that stood between us and World Depression II, while others preach the exact opposite; namely, that public-sector meddling in capital markets has no salutary effects, instead just corrupting market activity and increasing debt.
In any case, it seems that genuine catastrophe has been averted, either through deft government action, or in spite of it. If this really is the case, then eventually demand for goods and services should recover, and with it demand for labor. It is true that the advent of new technologies obviates large swaths of labor activity, but in every epoch the dislocated labor finds some new means of employment. The present should be no different. Unfortunately there is a large lag in how this happens. The older generation - the one that congratulates itself on its stock-market gains - has both the luxury to wait for this lag to sort itself out, and the life-experience to expect an eventually successful solution. Younger people have neither.
OP, Progress is inevitable, and yes, we all should enjoy the increase in investment value, as , quite frankly, if investment values did not go up we'd still have the same excess supply of labor being created. They are not mutually dependent.
It is a big problem we have barely started to experience, but a Luddite approach would be far worse.
OP, Progress is inevitable, and yes, we all should enjoy the increase in investment value, as , quite frankly, if investment values did not go up we'd still have the same excess supply of labor being created. They are not mutually dependent.
It is a big problem we have barely started to experience, but a Luddite approach would be far worse.
It's funny that you have responded to this. You are perhaps one of the biggest culprits of bragging about your investments while appearing to take joy in the idea that jobs are diminishing. Sadly, I don't know if you're just trolling or if you truly have a complete disregard for anybody but yourself. Either way, it's distasteful.
You honestly think that it's a good thing that a sizable chunk of people may not be able to earn a living if jobs continue to diminish? How, as a human being, do you get satisfaction from this? Do you think that a bunch of starving unemployed people are just going to sit around until they shrivel up and die? Honestly, I believe if we allow the dire labor situation to progress to that point, we are going to have a massive uprising in this country.
BTW, I never suggested a Luddite approach. However, I think we need to consider real solutions to this problem.
It's funny that you have responded to this. You are perhaps one of the biggest culprits of bragging about your investments while appearing to take joy in the idea that jobs are diminishing. Sadly, I don't know if you're just trolling or if you truly have a complete disregard for anybody but yourself. Either way, it's distasteful.
You honestly think that it's a good thing that a sizable chunk of people may not be able to earn a living if jobs continue to diminish? .
It is inevitable if we do not address the real issue , and your focusing on the WRONG issue. The right issue is we are not creating new economic engines of magnitude. There is no 2013 Apple or Microsoft on the horizon adding hundreds of thousands of jobs. We need to become the place on the planet for business segment incubation. I'm afraid we are not that now, but if we fail to become that, yes, we are in for huge problems for tens of millions.
I'm delighted the corp I work for, with dozens of facilities, has both grown in revenue and headcount, because we have ventured into new market segments. We've automated, but the new markets we have entered have added more jobs than automation replaced.
We need to do that nationally, and this time, I'm talking corps either with 6 figure headcounts or on the cusp of that level. Corps, like people, need to think outside the box. I'm a fan of the RFK quote "Some men see things as they are and say "why." I dream things that never were and say "why not.” (source: http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/1799...re-and-say-why)
It is inevitable if we do not address the real issue , and your focusing on the WRONG issue. The right issue is we are not creating new economic engines of magnitude. There is no 2013 Apple or Microsoft on the horizon adding hundreds of thousands of jobs. We need to become the place on the planet for business segment incubation. I'm afraid we are not that now, but if we fail to become that, yes, we are in for huge problems for tens of millions.
I'm delighted the corp I work for, with dozens of facilities, has both grown in revenue and headcount, because we have ventured into new market segments. We've automated, but the new markets we have entered have added more jobs than automation replaced.
We need to do that nationally, and this time, I'm talking corps either with 6 figure headcounts or on the cusp of that level. Corps, like people, need to think outside the box. I'm a fan of the RFK quote "Some men see things as they are and say "why." I dream things that never were and say "why not.” (source: Quote by Robert F. Kennedy: Some men see things as they are and say "w...)
I don't know why you'd suggest that I'm not focusing on the right issue. Surprisingly enough, I agree with this post. Not once have you ever responded with something like this. Generally, your attitude comes across as too bad, too sad. As long as my investments are up, I don't care about the recovery and sustenance of jobs.
However, here you seem to at least acknowledge that new job growth is possible (and a good thing). But again, as far as what you THINK I am proposing or advocating, I'm not really sure. I've been very outspoken about my belief that this should not be some federally mandated project. If anything, the government needs to provide an environment conducive to growth, step aside, and allow the free markets to thrive. What exactly did you think that I was advocating or focusing on?
However, here you seem to at least acknowledge that new job growth is possible (and a good thing). But again, as far as what you THINK I am proposing or advocating, I'm not really sure. I've been very outspoken about my belief that this should not be some federally mandated project. If anything, the government needs to provide an environment conducive to growth, step aside, and allow the free markets to thrive.
I agree with that, and government needs to critically examine itself in determining why we fell off the edge on being a great, new business segment incubator.
I know you're young, but if you know history, you know we once were the world's best incubator. I do not think we, the people, lost that ability.
Although the system may have small flaws, I'm a 100% Capitalist. That being said, I think the problem lies on the supply side. There's an abundance of people supplying quality labor for wages way too low. Fix that first.
To elaborate, a large portion of relatively low wage jobs are supplied by people who are living paycheck to paycheck and are financially desperate. They have low bargaining power and cannot survive any period of not having any income. Had they bothered to save, it would mitigate the situation of too much supply.. they'd not take the low wage job and wait for something higher paying that's a better fit for them while living off of their savings.
I think most of the problem is that there is an abundance of people. Unless there is some sort of apocalyptic event that forces human kind to go back to more manual types of work, we will never have an abundance of need for all of these workers.
Unless our oversupply of humans are used to fight the next big wars (lack of potable water, land, breathable air space) technology will render humans somewhat obsolete. At least some humans.
Maybe what we should hope for our a couple of good plagues to take numbers down to a more sustainable level.
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