Difference between revisions of "Jobsolescence"
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==Definition== | ==Definition== | ||
| − | [[jobsolescence]] ''(n.)'' is the phenomenon whereby increasing [[automation]] enables | + | [[jobsolescence]] ''(n.)'' is the phenomenon whereby increasing [[automation]] enables production capacity to be maintained with a shrinking quantity of workers, resulting in shrinking [[employment]], resulting in reduced [[wealth distribution]] and therefore increased [[economic disparity]]. |
| + | Note that [[off-shoring]] of jobs is also the result of automation, as it could not be done effectively without modern telecommunication. | ||
| + | ===Usage=== | ||
In colloquial usage, it can refer to: | In colloquial usage, it can refer to: | ||
* the fact of having one's particular job rendered obsolete | * the fact of having one's particular job rendered obsolete | ||
* the fact of jobs in general, as a means of survival for individuals and as a way for society to allocate resources, becoming obsolete | * the fact of jobs in general, as a means of survival for individuals and as a way for society to allocate resources, becoming obsolete | ||
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These are examples of how the word might be used in writing or conversation: | These are examples of how the word might be used in writing or conversation: | ||
* ''The paradox of jobsolescence is that it results in severe deprivation in the midst of plenty.'' | * ''The paradox of jobsolescence is that it results in severe deprivation in the midst of plenty.'' | ||
* ''In 2011, the capitalist system reached a crisis point, with thousands of jobsolescent workers flooding the streets of major cities around the world seeking new solutions for wealth redistribution. They were told by the establishment, with no sense of irony, to 'get a job'.'' | * ''In 2011, the capitalist system reached a crisis point, with thousands of jobsolescent workers flooding the streets of major cities around the world seeking new solutions for wealth redistribution. They were told by the establishment, with no sense of irony, to 'get a job'.'' | ||
* ''The system I designed for VeryBigTek to help with my work there is so efficient that they were able to lay off 5 employees -- including me. I've been rendered jobsolete.'' | * ''The system I designed for VeryBigTek to help with my work there is so efficient that they were able to lay off 5 employees -- including me. I've been rendered jobsolete.'' | ||
| + | ==Mechanisms== | ||
| + | The following mechanisms seem to be in operation. | ||
| + | # '''Automation of labor''' | ||
| + | #* [[Employment]] generally only occurs when the [[private benefit]] of having a task done is worth the cost of paying a worker to do it. | ||
| + | #* [[Automation]] is replacing more and more jobs with machinery that costs considerably less than this to operate and maintain. | ||
| + | #* No matter how skilled a given worker may be, or how much effort they put into retraining themselves, there will come a time when a machine is better suited for any job they might be able to do. | ||
| + | #* The more skilled the worker, the longer it will be before this happens -- but the bar is continuously being raised. | ||
| + | #* This results in a continually-shrinking pool of jobs at any given skill level. | ||
| + | #* Those who are laid off due to automation are therefore not likely to find new jobs, as they will have to (a) retrain for a new job, and (b) compete with others who already have such training. | ||
| + | # '''Imprisonment of resources''' | ||
| + | #* As automation reduces the cost of production, the intake of profit soars without increasing the rate at which those profits are distributed. | ||
| + | #* Wealth is privately retained by the owners of automated production facilities. These owners do not have any use for most of the increase in their wealth, and when they do use it they generally use it to accumulate even more wealth (e.g. by buying up competing businesses, loaning money at interest to those less fortunate, etc.) | ||
| + | #* Wealth becomes increasingly scarce in the economy at large. | ||
| + | # '''Evaporation of public benefit''' | ||
| + | #* There are many tasks which are not being done because although their [[public benefit]] is certainly great enough to make them worth doing, their [[private benefit]] is insufficient to convert the task into employment. | ||
| + | #* When people are employed at a decent salary and reasonable hours, this leaves many of them with spare resources and energy to devote to work of high public benefit and low private benefit. When more and more people are employed at inadequate salaries or excessive hours (e.g. via multiple jobs or working unpaid overtime under threat of being fired), they will increasingly lack the resources or time to engage in such projects. | ||
| + | ==Benefits== | ||
| + | It now takes a quite small percentage of society -- a relatively small number of people -- to produce basic goods and services that all of us need in order to survive at a reasonable level of contentment and freedom. It should therefore be economically possible to allow many people a [[guaranteed income]] without requiring them to work. | ||
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| + | The required percentage of society is larger if we include goods and services that many people ''want'', but it is still relatively small. Indeed, many of our "wants" represent [[socially useless production]], and public desire for them has been deliberately engineered in order to increase demand for production. | ||
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| + | This reduction in necessary labor reduces the amount of consumables we each ''need'' in order to live happily while also improving the quality of life on average, thus increasing the human carrying-capacity of our ecosystem (hopefully to the point where we can level off population growth before a crisis occurs). | ||
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| + | ==Costs== | ||
| + | * [[Economic disparity]] leads to widespread suffering and economic instability. | ||
| + | * Large-scale centralization of wealth enables: | ||
| + | ** [[market distortion]], undermining the functioning of [[free market]]s. | ||
| + | ** [[regulatory capture]], undermining the functioning of a free society. | ||
| + | ==Areas for Reform== | ||
| + | * Much of the wealth that is now being imprisoned | ||
| + | * Many tasks that people do for "employment" are essentially make-work, or (worse) are part of the process of concentrating wealth in the hands of a few. | ||
| + | ==Proposals== | ||
| + | The following proposals have been made in reaction to this situation: | ||
| + | * Reduced work-week (would increase the number of people needed to accomplish a given task and therefore the number of jobs) | ||
| + | ** '''Problems''': | ||
| + | *** only somewhat increases wealth redistribution, and doesn't do anything to repair the safety-net for those who still can't find work | ||
| + | *** decreases efficiency; is basically make-work, in many cases | ||
| + | * Require businesses to hire a certain number of employees, at a living wage, for every million dollars of revenue or profit. This number would be calculated based on the total adult population multiplied by that business's share of the "economic pie", guaranteeing that essentially all of the population would be employed. (In practicality, businesses would probably tell many of their employees to just stay home.) | ||
| + | * Increase taxes on the most profitable businesses to the point where the government could afford to provide a [[guaranteed income]] to everyone. | ||
| + | ==Caveats== | ||
| + | There remain some tasks that need doing -- we can't ''all'' just stop working. | ||
==Conclusions== | ==Conclusions== | ||
| − | + | Jobsolescence will continue to be a growing problem as long as we depend on the concept of [[employment]] as a means of allocating [[wealth]] and therefore [[basic needs]]. | |
| − | + | ||
| + | Society must be significantly restructured so that [[employment]] is no longer required in order to survive at a reasonable level. (The possible results of successful reform along these lines are generally referred to as a [[post-employment economy]] and [[post-scarcity economics]].) | ||
| + | ==Related== | ||
| + | * [[Jobsolescence]] is one of the primary causes of increasing [[economic disparity]]. | ||
| + | * A [[post-employment economy]] is an economy in which employment is not a requisite for a reasonably prosperous life. | ||
| + | * [[Post-scarcity economics]] is the study of economics in the circumstance where basic needs and wants can be produced without engaging the majority of society as production labor. | ||
==Quotes== | ==Quotes== | ||
<blockquote> | <blockquote> | ||
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<div align=right>— [[Buckminster Fuller]] ({{wikiquote|Buckminster Fuller}}, [http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/133403-we-should-do-away-with-the-absolutely-specious-notion-that GoodReads])</div> | <div align=right>— [[Buckminster Fuller]] ({{wikiquote|Buckminster Fuller}}, [http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/133403-we-should-do-away-with-the-absolutely-specious-notion-that GoodReads])</div> | ||
==Notes== | ==Notes== | ||
| + | I'm using "imprisonment of wealth" as a less-loaded alternative to "hoarding of wealth". | ||
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I find it interesting to note that the domain "[http://jobsolescence.com jobsolescence.com]" was registered (by a [[htyp:domain squatter|domain squatter]]) on 2011-10-20, six days after I created this page (2011-10-14), which is eight days after my post suggesting the word on G+ (see link below) -- although [http://www.transparencyrevolution.com/2011/09/jobsolescence/ this article] uses the word on 2011-09-08, more than a month earlier (I was not aware of it at the time). I need to do an exhaustive Google search and see if there are any earlier uses of it. --[[User:Woozle|Woozle]] ([[User talk:Woozle|talk]]) 14:34, 19 April 2013 (EDT) | I find it interesting to note that the domain "[http://jobsolescence.com jobsolescence.com]" was registered (by a [[htyp:domain squatter|domain squatter]]) on 2011-10-20, six days after I created this page (2011-10-14), which is eight days after my post suggesting the word on G+ (see link below) -- although [http://www.transparencyrevolution.com/2011/09/jobsolescence/ this article] uses the word on 2011-09-08, more than a month earlier (I was not aware of it at the time). I need to do an exhaustive Google search and see if there are any earlier uses of it. --[[User:Woozle|Woozle]] ([[User talk:Woozle|talk]]) 14:34, 19 April 2013 (EDT) | ||