Un/under-employment

Just read an article about how young people are hardest hit by the current economy, with something like only 48% of college students seeking summer jobs actually got one.

While I do believe that a college education is a good thing, there are plenty of service and trade jobs that can be done without one. Particularly given that neither here nor in the US is it easy to find someone good at their work.

I think Gordon Gecko is partly to blame (Wall Street, the movie), because "Greed is good" was much more memorable than the actual movie ending, where Charlie Sheen sticks it to him. There is so much emphasis on being 'slick', making a killing for next-to-no-effort, having all the trappings of success, without really producing anything, that it's clear to me that, on that basis alone, we're doomed. The housing bubble is a prime example: in pursuit of the 'flash' of a big house in an upscale area, two-income yups bought much more house than they could afford, never considering what the variable rate mortgage and balloon payment might mean. After all, they could ALWAYS re-finance, and use the proceeds to (partially) address those pesky credit card bills.

Did they NEED the Beemer and the split-level overlooking the golf course? Of course not. But what self-respecting yup would consider living in the same class house as their parents did?

Meanwhile, maybe one of them was a stock broker, and the other worked in HR at a big financial company, both requiring a college degree (heaven knows why). I have deliberately chosen two of the most useless 'professions' on the planet to make a point. They produce NOTHING.

Meanwhile the guy who keeps their lawn green, and their hedges trimmed had to swim the Rio Grande, literally dodge bullets to get the job. Why? Because no American (or Thai - apply it to whatever country you like) wanted to have THAT kind of job. They didn't spend all that time learning Microsoft Excel so they could make plants behave.

And in the area of jobs where you get good only after many years of experience, people are disappearing like donuts at a cop convention. The mechanic who used to change your motorbike tire, clean the rim, and apply talcum powder to prevent tube pinching is now gone, replaced by a sub-moron who can't be trusted to remember to tighten the axle nut afterward.

So, my question is: what's wrong with learning to DO something, and taking pride and satisfaction in doing it right? Soon, you won't be able to find anyone to DO anything well. Doesn't that mean that there will be a market for good service workers and tradesmen? Or are we, as a people, so inured to crap service that we are willing to continue to put up with it?

It's nowhere more apparent than in Thailand, where few aspire to do a good job, but many aspire to have a big SUV, much gold, and all the outward trappings of a 'rich' man. But Thailand is not unique, except for the 'face' thing. Why else are sports figures more admired than scientists or carpenters?

My prescription is for parents/teachers to encourage kids to learn, not force them to memorize, and then help them discover what it is they are truly good at. Then, do everything possible to encourage the kid to pursue it, for its own sake. Many will not go to college; so what? They may bake a great loaf of bread, or be a whiz at painting, or furniture-building.

Then, I could finally find someone to lay a brick level.

Off soapbox.

But Sateev, if nobody paid the teachers, doctors, etc: huge amounts of money to "teach" them how "not" to do the job properly, where would all their money come from?

sateev good post.you are spot on.

Kind of reminds me of the old verse, 'he who knows why will be boss, he who knows how will always have a job.'

Sateev makes some salient points. It always baffled me why those who work with their hands seem to always earn less than those who work with their minds. Obviously, Wall St. has taken that to the extreme. Now, with the Occupy Wall Street movement, we are beginning to see the inevitable reprisal and perhaps the beginnings of a revolution in how we value workers. It is history repeating itself. Remember France and the bourgeoisie, for example? We all know how that turned out. While I do not think modern Americans will start lopping off heads, I do think change will come if enough Americans can get off their couches and put on their marching shoes.

Here in Thailand, IMHO, they need to overcome a lot of the institutionalized barriers to upward mobility, first. Leaving the farm to work in the factory was a necessary first step all developed nations have gone through. Leaving the factory to work in the shop is the next step is soon followed by leaving the shop to work in the office. That is where Thailand is at IMHO. Letting money do all the work is the step after that. Then it's maybe back to the farm (?) after the inevitable collapse. That is history's cycle.

Uncharacteristically, I'm not being cogent because a lot of thoughts want to get out at the same time. So let me stop here and just say I think society needs to pay teachers (for example) and those who produce with their hands far more than those who produce with their minds. It's looney and there needs to be a massive paradigm shift.

I don't mean for this to be strictly a black-or-white issue: there will always be a need for thinking and planning as productive jobs. It's just that it has swung WAY far toward creation of parasitic, non-productive, hustling as 'professions'.

It's really cultural, and a bit paradoxical, too, because, when we see a 'master craftsman', we are generally in awe, and heap praise upon him/her. But do we emulate them? Not usually...

I say the guy in Kumphawampi who makes pizza is a craftsman, entitled to more respect than the most brilliant HR weenie, who writes the most brilliant employee policy manual, even if he/she saves the company millions (by screwing the people who do the actual work).

He makes good bread, too, BTW.

I am not affiliated with Smile Pizza in any way, and have no plans to initiate a position (or eat a pizza) in the next 72 hours.