Jobs fade away...

The current crisis has left most of the world’s economies and markets in bad shape. The American people are fully aware of the rise in inequality. Even before the recession; in 2007, the top 1% of earners made 23.5% of all income earned which is the highest share since 1928. Since the crisis, the middle-class has been frustrated by the return of good times to Wall Street while the middle-class weakens.


Over the last decades the American economy has become increasingly polarized. Jobs have been numerous for low and high-skilled workers, but employment opportunities for middle-skilled laborers have become much scarcer.


At a recent task-force forum at the University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin, Vice President Biden struck a populist tone while rallying the audience behind more financial regulation. “The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary”.


Technology is mainly responsible for this. Automation and outsourcing have taken-over whole classes of jobs. Among them are routine but vital tasks that were labor-intensive before the computing revolution: manufacturing and number-crunching jobs that used to pay well. The economy now needs workers to do what can’t be done by machines or call-centers. The supply of skilled workers has failed to keep pace with demand.


The Obama administration has been working towards creating better jobs. Mr. Biden’s task-force has emphasized on the importance of green jobs, but the energy legislation that might change business incentives has stalled, and President Obama is not doing much to push for it. But clearly some more practical incentives would help: better child care would enhance women’s earning power, and student-loan reforms, as contained in the health-care bill, should make college more affordable.


The fading union power has been more the effect than the cause of occupational shifts. Middle-skill jobs have declined as a share of occupations across Europe as well, and inequality has increased, though not as much as in America. America’s labor market may be unique in the extent of its middle-class troubles, but not in their existence. How to maintain a stable middle class amid sweeping technological change?


This is a problem the developed world is only beginning to appreciate. Governments will have to protect workers, but a flexible, well-educated labor force is likely to suit best in the transition.

In this case, I have examined to workforce inside the United States but this problem occurs all around the world. Let’s face it: we have reached a certain barrier within the technology sector which requires adaptation. Failure to do so will inevitably result in a downward spiral of the work force. Adaptation is needed for the creation of new jobs. As discussed earlier, green jobs seem to be the future. The industry is growing at fast rates and whether we like it or not our world is changing and more machines will start controlling more jobs as a result. It is imperative we come up with a solution to the problem, I mean do we really want machines controlling jobs people could do just as well? Is it an ethical issue? I believe it is.