How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America

[jimmy olsen]

A depressing read.

Way to long to post though.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/201003/jobless-america-future

[Alatriste]

Depressing, but essential. Thank you.

[CountDeMoney]

When jobs disappear, they rarely come back.
And, since there's no paradigm-changing technology on the horizon a la teh intrawebs, get used to the numbers.

[Tamas]

Your blue collars jobs are being taken by Chinamen, Indians, and East Europeans. Live with it. Too bad they are not taking your political culture as well, but hey.

[Caliga]

Hey, thanks for the reminder that I need to go pick up my guns. 

[HisMajestyBOB]

Well I certainly picked a terrific time period to graduate from college.

[Martinus]

When jobs disappear, they rarely come back.

It's actually interesting because in the most frequently used lingo jobs are "created" but then they are "lost". I wonder why can't we just go and find them once they are lost, instead of creating new ones. Seems awfully wasteful to me.

[Caliga]

My assumption is that the jobs that are permanently lost don't come back because they are found to be useless and/or not productive in terms of generating revenue... unless you count jobs that are lost to places like India.

[Martinus]

Your blue collars jobs are being taken by Chinamen, Indians, and East Europeans. Live with it. Too bad they are not taking your political culture as well, but hey.

The problem is that the offshore outsourcing is hitting also high skill white collar jobs, because companies and firms care only about short term bottom line. One of the examples is the legal profession - it becomes more and more common to outsource low-end "drudgery" tasks (e.g. due diligence or document review) to India or South Africa and the like. While this may serve as a short-term income boost (since a qualified lawyer reviewing these documents in India or South Africa may be cheaper than a junior trainee who used to perform such jobs in London or New york), in the long term this will stifle the influx of fresh blood into the profession, since trainees will have nothing to train on.

[Martinus]

When jobs disappear, they rarely come back.
And, since there's no paradigm-changing technology on the horizon a la teh intrawebs, get used to the numbers.

I think we are heading towards a "Malthusian" labour dystopia, where new jobs are created in numbers much smaller than the population growth would require, thus reversing the old social order by making the privileged work and sustain both themselves (at the above-average quality of life) and the underprivileged who will remain unemployed and live off welfare at the biological sustenance level (to prevent them from starting a revolt).

[Josquius]

Increasingly I feel annoyed that I was born a decade or so too late.
As I approach graduation I feel increasingly worried, there seems to be no entry level positions anywhere.

[Martinus]

Increasingly I feel annoyed that I was born a decade or so too late.
As I approach graduation I feel increasingly worried, there seems to be no entry level positions anywhere.

It's funny because I feel the opposite. I feel I missed something by not growing up in the internet, gay rights etc. era. All these things entered my life when I was in my early twenties.

[Neil]

When jobs disappear, they rarely come back.

It's actually interesting because in the most frequently used lingo jobs are "created" but then they are "lost". I wonder why can't we just go and find them once they are lost, instead of creating new ones. Seems awfully wasteful to me.

Some of them are found, in places like China and India.

At any rate, I'm looking forward to the rolling back of the social 'progress' of the last 40 years.

[Grey Fox]

This is weird. The talk around here is that Quebec is heading into a shortage of employees, not jobs. Especially specialized jobs.

I need to find one that pays more.

[Neil]

The problem is that the offshore outsourcing is hitting also high skill white collar jobs, because companies and firms care only about short term bottom line. One of the examples is the legal profession - it becomes more and more common to outsource low-end "drudgery" tasks (e.g. due diligence or document review) to India or South Africa and the like. While this may serve as a short-term income boost (since a qualified lawyer reviewing these documents in India or South Africa may be cheaper than a junior trainee who used to perform such jobs in London or New york), in the long term this will stifle the influx of fresh blood into the profession, since trainees will have nothing to train on.

And then the firms as a whole will either offshore or they'll import qualified senior lawyers when the time comes.  What's wrong with that?