JOBS, JOBS, JOBS

Millions of Americans have lost their jobs in the last decade.  And of course we blame Wall Street, the banks, China and the Hedge Fund managers, who rake in millions.  We also blame the Third World Countries to whom our big corporations are outsourcing their work and, of course, we also blame our president and the government.  (Is there anyone else we can blame?)

I beg to differ.  I think we are barking up the wrong tree!

In 1786, the German Poet Matthias Claudius, (1740-1815), wrote a poem "Wenn Jemand eine Reise Tut, so kann er etwas erzählen" which loosely translates to approximately "when a person travels abroad it broadens that person's horizon, meaning that person discovers things unknown to that person before and it changes that person's perspective as well as that person's outlook on life.

I don't know if Charles Darwin, the English scientist, naturalist and geologist[1], ever heard of this poem or whether it was pure coincidence that he undertook a five year voyage to South America to study the geology of South America. 

And boy, did he make hay.[2]

As he was researching the geology of the land he also got involved in studying marine invertebrates[3].  Without going into much detail and diverting from the point I am about to make, from his research he concluded that all animals evolve from common ancestors.  But in order to survive they have mutated through a process of natural selection with the best and strongest traits remaining.                                                              ___________________ 

[1] A person who studies the dynamics and physical history of the earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the physical, chemical, and biological changes that the earth has undergone or is undergoing.

[1] An idiomatic American expression, meaning "boy was he successful!"
[1] Animals which have no backbones, such as sponges

Domesticated dogs are a good example of what this means.  Breeders have bread different types of dogs into new breeds by selecting dogs with good animal traits and fusing those traits into a new breed.  Darwin published these ideas in 1858 in his book "The Origin of Species".  Eventually this theory was adopted by the British economist Herbert Spencer, as the theory of "Survival of the Fittest".

So, what does all of this have to do with the cost of tea in China?

Plenty!

You see, when you look back at how we got into the mess where millions of people lost their jobs it becomes quite clear what happened.  Once we understand how we got here we will see what the problem is and how we too have to adept to the challenge of changing times.  It almost seems like a rule of nature.  The rule of "Survival of the Fittest" also applies to us humans.  And in hindsight, what happened to some extent was predictable. 

America is a capitalist country which means that everybody has the right to decide how much money he or she wants to earn and acquire.  This means that theoretically everybody is motivated to make as much money as they possibly can.  It also means that it motivates people to constantly seek to build a better mousetrap (in this case factories).  But the mousetraps (the factories) became very big, in fact huge, to the point where the factory owners needed workers.  Most of those workers didn't need to have any special skills or necessarily be highly educated.  They were taught on the job how to operate a machine and that was all they needed.  But those kinds of workers were a dime a dozen.  If a worker didn't do exactly what he/she was told to do, the worker would lose his\her job.  It created a lot of stress and tension among the workers, so unions popped up (rightfully so) to protect the workers.  But the unions also made demands on the factory owners and eventually somewhere along the lines the unions became too demanding and made it difficult for the factory owners to compete in the global market place.  Wages became too high, our standard of living became higher too, and we again made demands for higher wages (to satisfy and iprove our lifestyle) and so eventually we priced ourselves out of the global market.  Factory owners sought and found cheaper labor elsewhere.

While this evolution took place creative minds developed mechanical robots who could replace the workers and little by little the workforce was diminished and robots and computers replaced human beings.  At the same time workers in third world countries also became more educated and were willing to work for a fraction of the cost American workers demanded.  

Now we come back to the theory of "Survival of the Fittest".  In order to survive American workers needed to adept and to educate themselves and move up the economic ladder into skilled professionals.  But workers were too comfortable, and forgive me for saying so, mentally too lazy to look around how they could improve themselves and acquire new skills. 

In the 1950's refugees who came to America worked two jobs a day to give their children the opportunities for a higher education so that they would have a better life.  Their children became professionals: doctors, lawyers, accountants, architects, engineers, pharmacists, etc.  Those who didn't have a higher education developed a new trend "Thank God it's Friday".

So what then is the answer?  Jobs are basically for people who do not have any marketable skills in contrast to Professionals who get a higher education and have a career path.  Those who do not want to be left behind and eventually become destitute need to become innovative and/or create or discover a better mousetrap. 

There are new industries in the world and the sooner these job-seekers prepare themselves through education to become a part of these new industries the sooner their miseries will end.

Depending on their educational level here are some of the industries which promise to be growing in the next decade or so.  It behooves the job seekers to find schools which will help them make the transition to some of these industries.

Currently the Healthcare Industry is still burgeoning and promises to continue to grow over the next ten years.

We now live in the Age of Information Technology[4], which is constantly re-inventing itself.

The legal profession is still strong and will probably remain so for another decade.

The Financial Services Industry is also still very strong.

The Pharmacology Industry looks like it too will remain strong for another decade.

Eldercare still has some potential.

These are just some of the industries, which still promise some hope.

Of course it will cost money to change careers and to go to technical schools, not necessarily colleges, who teach the skills need to make the changes.  Some of the schools will direct you toward financial aid and many of them claim to help you find jobs after you graduate.  But understand this, the jobs they will help you get are entry level jobs and do not pay the kinds of salaries people who hae been I the industry for a while get.  But you need to start out at te bottom and learn on the job, which is very different from the classroom.  We recommend that you accept the entry level positions until you feel confident that you know what you are doing and the find other firms I that same industry and seek a position there.

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[1] Many people think that learning computers is the answer.  "Learning computers" actually just means learning how to type on an electronic typewriter.  What we are talking about in this article is to learn how to design websites for use on the Internet, or learning how to write software programs.