Website owner:  James Miller

The problem of employment

   The problem of employment and the need for jobs lies at the 
   very heart of many problems of society.  With the increase of 
   technology and automation comes a decrease in the number of 
   unskilled jobs and an increase in the number of jobs requiring 
   specialized education and skills.  With fewer unskilled jobs 
   available, competition for them becomes greater.  Those without 
   special skills, in order to survive, must compete fiercely for 
   the lowest level, least desireable, lowest paid jobs.  All of 
   this puts stress on the unskilled, on people displaced from 
   outdated skilled positions, etc..  These people are forced to 
   either educate and train themselves for available skilled jobs 
   or compete for the very bottom-of-the-barrel, bottom-of-the 
   ladder type of menial, unfulfilling jobs.  What if they don't 
   feel like educating and training themselves?  If we assume 
   that a large portion of the population does not train itself 
   for skilled positions, this puts a lot of pressure at the 
   bottom of the ladder.  What about those who "cop out" in 
   school, who don't want to compete, who don't want to play the 
   game?  There will always be a few motivated people who will 
   diligently study, compete and excel but how about the others, 
   the ones that are not convinced, that don't see the point and 
   value of it all?  Those who just get off the treadmill and 
   refuse to pedal?  Don't these feel like they are victims of a 
   heartless, cruel system?  How many people in our society feel 
   like they are trapped in a heartless system?  That they are 
   just a nameless number caught in a stark, cold, cruel trap that 
   they can do nothing about?  Even if they have a job it is 
   monotonous and unsatisfying or else full of pressures and 
   stresses.  Are they really trapped or is it all in their mind?  
   Were the old days when everyone had his own two acre plot, 
   raised a few chickens, a cow, his own vegetables and lived a 
   simple, self-sufficient life better?  Has science done anything 
   that would prevent him from going back to that old lifestyle? 
   
   Jan 1980