Conscious Choice: Jobs

October 2001 | Citizen at Large

Jobs

by Jay Walljasper

Fear about jobs is creeping into American life from all corners. The terrorist attacks and our military response are only part of the picture. Economists tell us that we are entering a rocky road of economic restructuring that will soon return us to rosy economic times. But common sense tells us not to be so sure. A new report hits us every day about another company laying off more workers in Ohio, or Southern California, or Melrose Park. And this is not just happening at old industrial-age widgetworks. The big-growth industries of the twenty-first century — computers, banks, communications, service — are also scooting workers out into the street.

William Greider, economics writer and author of the bestseller Who Will Tell the People?, pointed out a while back that America’s largest private employer is no longer General Motors or IBM, but Manpower Inc., a temporary employment agency. He adds that Bank of America, one of the biggest firms in the booming field of financial services, soon will have fewer than 20 percent of its employees working full-time. Hiring workers on a temporary or part-time basis appeals to corporations because they can pay less and avoid the costs of providing health insurance and other benefits.

Jeremy Rifkin, an environmental advocate, predicts that jobs will only get more scarce as technological sophistication proceeds. Debunking the myth of high-tech as our ticket to full employment, Rifkin points out that the real purpose of technological innovation is to increase profits by eliminating workers.

For decades we’ve seen factory workers replaced by machines, but there was always the flourishing service sector to provide new (but lower paying) employment. Now, Rifkin notes, a new wave of automation is targeting jobs in the service sector. Voice mail and automatic bank machines, for instance, limit the opportunities to make a living as a receptionist or teller. Do you think it will be long before voice-activated computers take our Big Mac orders?

For Americans, this is not just an economic crisis. In some cases, it’s a crisis of survival. Without the social democratic programs of most European nations, each rise in the unemployment rates means a steep escalation in human suffering — hunger, illness, homelessness, despair, domestic violence, suicide. It’s also a spiritual crisis. Because self-worth in America is so closely linked to socioeconomic status, being out of work is seen as more than bad luck — it’s a mark of being a loser. This is especially true for young males, whose rage about not finding a respected place in the system too often takes the form of crime and violence.

The truly tragic thing about this situation is that there is plenty of work to go around. While so much of America’s energy and resources are being poured into high-tech projects like weapons and the information highway, most of the problems corroding the core of the nation call for low-tech, labor-intensive solutions. Millions of everyday Americans could find jobs if there were a serious commitment made to cleaning up the environment, creating affordable housing, emphasizing preventive medicine, promoting public transportation, revitalizing cities, switching over to sustainable agriculture, and improving education.

This important work makes as much of a contribution to our national security as missiles and tanks. The economic ravages of the terrorist attacks on our economy would be much less if we had a quality high-speed rail network in place. Still it may be beyond the finances of the U.S. government to provide all the paychecks for such a program. Perhaps the Clinton Administration’s idea about national service could be revived and expanded beyond college-bound kids to include anyone who wanted to lend a helping hand in reviving America.

A secretary could help out folks in a senior citizens center for a few years to pay the way through nursing school. A factory worker could help dig a subway tunnel in return for a loan to launch a new business. Maybe retired people could pitch in as daycare helpers and everyone could take some time out to volunteer for a cause they care about.

Employers could encourage this by offering workers a few hours out of the workweek for community service. Better yet, the workweek itself could be trimmed. It’s been stuck at forty hours a week for several generations and actually has been inching upward in recent years. A thirty- or thirty-five-hour workweek, which has been endorsed by the AFL-CIO, would open new employment opportunities for many out-of-work Americans as well as enrich the lives of everyone else. This is not a radical pipedream — in 1932 it was advocated in the platforms of both the Republican and Democratic parties. France has trimmed the working week as a way to reduce unemployment, an idea also implemented in Germany and Italy. Volkswagen, BMW, and other big employers have experimented with flexible four-day weeks as an alternative to massive lay-offs.

A boost in vacation time would open up additional new jobs. The standard two-week vacation was abandoned long ago in Europe, where Swedes, Finns, the French, and Spaniards are now granted five weeks by law and everyone else enjoys four to six weeks through bargaining agreements.

The trend toward part-time work might broaden employment security, but not in the way it is currently practiced. Going part-time today means no benefits, lower pay rates, and little chance for advancement. It wouldn’t have to be that way. Steady, secure, well-paying part-time work could be a godsend to people who want to pursue other interests like family commitments, community projects, the arts, social causes, new businesses, or hobbies.

These common sense solutions to the jobs crisis are immediately dismissed as pie-in-the-sky. With a conservative administration in Washington that slavishly follows orders from corporate lobbyists, how in the world could we initiate a significant public works program or engineer major changes in the workplace like volunteer time, shorter workweeks, longer vacations, and a better deal for part-timers?

The business lobbyists who pushed through the reckless tax cut for the rich this year can be counted on to muster massive opposition to any of these proposals. Yet millions of Americans would be excited by these ideas, not only the prospect of shorter workweeks and more vacation, but also the chance to roll up their sleeves and help revitalize their communities. They could constitute a political force so mighty that the lobbyists would run for cover.

Recommend this page to a friend

Top Ten pages recommended to friends: