What If The Jobs Never Come Back

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There's been a lot of talk about unemployment and trying to stimulate the economy, but what if the jobs don't come back, i know guys in the auto industry who are working 5 days a week as part of a smaller workforce and the companies seem to be thriving, before, they were working 7 days a week, over producing with too many employees and the companies imploded.

i think leaner and more profitable is definitely how industry seems to be going.

If the new economy means less jobs for less people what do we do with the unemployed.

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Type: Discussion • Score: 23 • Views: 4,805 • Replies: 45

[+5] - squinney - 07/02/2010Having just joined the unemployed on Wednesday, I hope the jobs not coming back or the Dys Solution, are not the way things turn out. I DO strongly believe this is a wake up call for innovation,...

@djjd62,

soylent green.

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Having just joined the unemployed on Wednesday, I hope the jobs not coming back or the Dys Solution, are not the way things turn out.

I DO strongly believe this is a wake up call for innovation, entrepeneurship and changing how we think about "work." Over the past 15 years I hope we have learned that having the same job for 40 years and retiring is long gone. We have to be more creative and innovative. We have to find new ways to use our skill sets. We have to TEACH our kids NOW how to do that, and start emphasizing how to do what you love to do so that new industries are created.

I think that's where Obama has it right with the support of green technologies. Maybe we can't immediately stop using oil, but we can change how we think about our sources of energy. There are bright people, small companies, that are on the right track because they started thinking outside of the box ten years ago.

I loved my job, the people I served and the atmosphere of the community. For the first few years I had responsibility, creative license, and the confidence and encouragement of management. However, when the board was turned over to retired corporate lifers, and they started micromanaging every move I made, I eventually stopped having the desire to give 200%. Only my work ethic kept me giving 100%. I can't imagine how people do the corporate world all of their work life without feeling totally diminished.

Hopefully, we will change how business is done and reward outside the box thinking. That's where I think the jobs will be as we recover.

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@djjd62,

There's no reason why the jobs wouldn't come back. If the government engages in the appropriate amount of short-term deficit spending, they will be back in two years. If hardcore fiscal conservatives prevail, they'll come back in fifteen years. But they will come back.

What do we do with the unemployed in the meantime? Why not revive New-Deal make-work agencies like the CCC and the WPA? America's interstate highways could use some more bridges that don't fall into rivers. The Appalachian trail could use some work---and, I imagine, so could the National Park Service in general. There's plenty of work out there to be done; there are people willing to do it; the private sector has had its chance to match the workers with the work, and blew it; let's bring in some competition for the private-sector job market!

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@squinney,

squinney wrote:

However, when the board was turned over to retired corporate lifers,

I never heard about this turn of events. That's awful.

squinney wrote:

I can't imagine how people do the corporate world all of their work life without feeling totally diminished.

I'd say that most of them don't.

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@squinney,

squinney wrote:

Having just joined the unemployed on Wednesday, I hope the jobs not coming back or the Dys Solution, are not the way things turn out.

Ack squinney! Sorry to hear that.

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@Thomas,

I agree we need to start investing in ourselves and in the process we would be creating jobs. We have long neglected our own infrastructure and quality of life (ie: the arts, public transportation, affordable higher education). Instead of throwing more money into the Middle East and Asia we need to spend it here. The best thing America has going for it is the fact that we are good at inventing things and paving the way into new technologies. We need to invest in ideas to make them into products, not everyone works for Apple or Google and has a corporation to fund their dreams. I would like to see a gov't agency set up with grants to do just that, especially in terms of energy. We have almost missed the boat on green technologies, but I'm hoping we can start doggy paddling and catch-up soon.

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@djjd62,

djjd62 wrote:

i think leaner and more profitable is definitely how industry seems to be going.

That's the way industry has always been going.

djjd62 wrote:

If the new economy means less jobs for less people what do we do with the unemployed.

Public works. Education.

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@squinney,

squinney wrote:

Having just joined the unemployed on Wednesday,

Ah, that sucks. Sorry that's happening to you.

squinney wrote:

retired corporate lifers

I suspect the problem is the "retired" part. The have all this time, and they need some way to fill it.

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@djjd62,

Well, if you live in British Columbia (and Ontario), we are being sold a bill of goods saying that all sorts of wonderful things are going to happen now due to the introduction of the Harmonized Sales Tax.

Haven't you heard? Jobs will be created!

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I see it pretty much the way Thomas does. I am not so well informed and educated as he, but his words make lots of sense.

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there is talk of a double dip recession.
however china losening the reins on the yen makes their exports more expensive and locally produced goods more competetive.

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@djjd62,

djjd62 wrote:

There's been a lot of talk about unemployment and trying to stimulate the economy, but what if the jobs don't come back, i know guys in the auto industry who are working 5 days a week as part of a smaller workforce and the companies seem to be thriving, before, they were working 7 days a week, over producing with too many employees and the companies imploded.

i think leaner and more profitable is definitely how industry seems to be going.

If the new economy means less jobs for less people what do we do with the unemployed.

The jobs wont come back

It's all about the resources.

There is an old journalistic maxim whch states that in order to get to the heart of a story, you should follow the money. This maxim, however, is not really axiomatic but derivative, in that money is really a way of tracking resources. In particular, energy. If you want to know the heart of the problems facing the world today, follow the energy.

"Money" is the final, abstract representation of the exchange value of all of the resources used by man. Inflating the money supply, as our governments have done, will not make the growing resource crisis and consequent economic losses go away. It will, however, dictate who picks up the tab for those losses.

This is not a credit crisis. This is not even an economic crisis, primarily (though each of these are consequences), Both of the above are symptoms of what is, fundamentally, a resource crisis. As the supply of resources dimminishes so too, in the end, must the ultimate, abstract representation of those resources. Namely the supply of "money". Or, at least, if not its supply, then certainly it's value.

The majority of humanity is going to get a lot poorer. The only debate left is whether it is a poverty of empty pockets or ones that bulge with pieces of worthless paper.

Wake up.

0 Replies

@djjd62,

djjd62 wrote:

There's been a lot of talk about unemployment and trying to stimulate the economy, but what if the jobs don't come back, i know guys in the auto industry who are working 5 days a week as part of a smaller workforce and the companies seem to be thriving, before, they were working 7 days a week, over producing with too many employees and the companies imploded.

i think leaner and more profitable is definitely how industry seems to be going.

If the new economy means less jobs for less people what do we do with the unemployed.

Speculation has it that the present depression may last anywhere from 10-20 years. As far as the unemployed go, why not have them go back to school?
Or how about deporting all the illegals?

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@djjd62,

Quote:

If the new economy means less jobs for less people.....

I think there's a strong case for spreading some of the existing work around to more people.

Many workers are now working horrendous hours, as a result of various rationalizations which have occurred in business & industry. (That process of off-loading as many employees as is possible, while hugely increasing the work-load of the remaining staff. Cutting the costs of "production". )

I believe a change of approach to this attitude to employment would be beneficial to both the workers & the employers. Especially in the current economic climate. How "productive" to the boss is a stressed, over-worked employee who's constantly on the verge of burn-out? The company might have initially saved money by off-loading so many other workers, but I see this as short-term gain, not a very useful strategy for the long-term prospects of the company at all.

I know so many people, amongst my own acquaintances,who have taken leave from their demanding jobs, or are seriously considering less demanding jobs, simply because they are exhausted from years of this sort of treatment. I'd say quite a few of them would happily consider a drop in salary in their current employment in exchange for a reduction in the number hours/days they currently work ... to lead saner, more balanced lives. A number of them would be a huge loss to their employers. The costs of training others to their level of expertise would be considerable.

Call me unrealistic, but I think there's scope for quite a deal of mutual benefit to both employers & employees if more a more flexible approach was possible, from employers especially. With the added bonus of fewer people on the dole ques.

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Quote:

If you want to know the heart of the problems facing the world today, follow the energy.

As resources become less available labour becomes more sought after.

1 Reply

@squinney,

Damn Squinney!

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@djjd62,

Don't the jobs come back, but different ones?

I think that's where it's REALLY hard for older unemployed people, or kids with no education and experience.

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@squinney,

So sorry to hear this, squinney.

Quote:

I loved my job, the people I served and the atmosphere of the community. For the first few years I had responsibility, creative license, and the confidence and encouragement of management. However, when the board was turned over to retired corporate lifers, and they started micromanaging every move I made, I eventually stopped having the desire to give 200%. Only my work ethic kept me giving 100%. I can't imagine how people do the corporate world all of their work life without feeling totally diminished.

Hopefully, we will change how business is done and reward outside the box thinking. That's where I think the jobs will be as we recover.

Hear, hear!

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Nobody has a plan. The best Idea that I have heard is to move the retirement age down to 52 or so, but we currently have no way to collect enough taxes to pay for so many years of retirement.

For now we will muddle through with a constantly declining standard of living for the average person. We are increasing the already very problematic separation between rich and poor, and destroying the middle class, so the most likely result is political revolution down the road. Increasing numbers of pissed off and under worked young people will speed the process nicely. At the moment aging boomers are subsidizing their kids with money that was supposed to go to retirement, but the wall is coming, because parents have already overall spent more on their kids then they can afford. At some time soon the checks will have to stop.

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What If The Jobs Never Come Back

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