There has been a great deal of conjecture about what will constitute an end to "The Recession," and one of those points of progress is the re-building of jobs in the United States. As of this morning, March 4th 2011, a new Jobs Report stated that the precipitous drop of employment was held, and the unemployment rate dropped point-one-percent -- certainly a reason to rejoice. Finally, we are on the correct path and gaining momentum! Marie Antoinette "tweeted" BREAD FOR ALL, CAKE FOR NONE. No one told her in the 19th C. that it was improper to use CAPS.
Propaganda is a powerful thing, but so is understanding. In the height of a booming economy, perhaps one could look at four-percent unemployment as great. Five percent would be considered usual. Even eight percent has been tolled as an acceptable feat. The idea behind such is that there are certain people "between jobs," that are taken at a survey level and will later be considered as employed.
This idea is not the new normal consideration of things. At one point in the development of of the United States, the unemployment of people during downtimes might be considered a loose body of potential hirings when things come around. With the development of technology -- from Taylorism and the Assembly Line -- to modern computers and diagnostic abilities to use people in an effective role consolidating and compartmentalizing, the creation of Man has become the reason that Man needs less of its people.
The plethora of jobs that existed earlier in this century will cease to exist. The current recession has forged employers to ask more of their staff, while cutting their staff. Therefore, the mantra has become "do more with less." It is an appropriate axiom for capitalism, but it also leaves a nation of expanding populace without positions of earning. The Recession has brought about a new consideration of the business model in every area, and capitalism as a model demands that less labor and more output equals a better bottom line. This idea, born from the fire of recession, will not lessen. Technology will only become greater, and the people that develop and implement that technology will be the ones that will lessen the amount of opportunity for employment in this nation -- and many others.
I was listening to an economist talking today who stated that despite the 9% unemployment rate at the present, we would still need to add 100,000 jobs in this nation each day to return to normal employment percentage, all the while curtailing the influx of immigrants to this nation. Intuitively, I construed that such will not happen. Maybe someone understands more than me. Perhaps all of our technology will become a sham, and humans will have to do what computers and robots cannot. I bet that it will not happen.
Prepare for a new frontier, and grab your ankles while you are doing it. As I do not trust the idea of Direct-Deposit, I was in a bank to refuel my account. Two weeks ago, I did the same. Two weeks ago, there were two tellers to take account action. Now there was one. The supervisor told me that she could help me, and came across her desk to a teller window. There are seven teller windows, so I suppose at one time, there were that many tellers. I think I recall such a scene from the '80s. We have known each other for some time, and she asked me how things were at work. I replied as I tend to do, then asked her how things were here, overtly asking where the usual second teller was. She replied that he had left. I remarked that I had just read an article in U.S.A. Today that mentioned a bank stating that with the Recession, they decided to cut back on some people, and cross-train the rest so that a teller could open new accounts, help you with the concept of a loan, wax the balls of your dog, and figure out String Theory. The employees were so happy to be free to take on new responsibilities! I dont have a dog, but if I had one, that would be a GREAT bank promotional device.
I suppose that the message, the idea, the fact is that jobs will not be returning. I doubt that we will even have much expansion. First, we need contraction of the 9%+ unemployment listing. Then, we need an actual account of how many people are actively seeking employment or have just given up. But as technology grows and replaces people, and as businesses have created an environment of "doing more with less," and as people have held so tightly to positions that they themselves learn to "do more with less," there may be a lapping tide upon a shore, but it will remain just that.
And by the way, Karl Marx proposed this demise nearly two centuries ago. His belief that free enterprise would lead to innovation, which would lead to the removal of necessary human interaction within a working structure should not be considered a precept of Communism. It was a critique of the capitalist formula, one consideration that built upon another to display the exact destination at which we seem to be arriving at the present. The system itself is grand -- the way that people will, and do, use it is detestable.
Some jobs have been sent overseas, some workings have been contracted and placed upon existing individuals, and some positions have simply eroded due to the advancement of technology.
Employment is not going to expand to the degree that is necessary to support the population. But there will be more downtime, so we can procreate more. That should help things.
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