More and more, polls are revealing the American people”s growing concern about unemployment and that putting people to work is essential to improving the economy and eventually, eliminating deficits. Part of the problem though, is that most Americans have no idea of the complex process of creating jobs in the private sector. Beyond that, most private enterprise employers really don”t want to add employees until there is no alternative. In addition few people recognize that for the last few centuries employers have been working with great vigor to eliminate individual positions. People may be adaptable and multipurpose, but they are expensive compared to machines where repetitive work is concerned. In general machines are far more reliable and don”t take breaks. Perhaps even worse is the fact that foreign workers have been found to be every bit as smart and capable as American workers and a whole lot less expensive. I suspect that people who think it is possible to return to the unemployment rates of years ago are naive at best.
A starting point is recognition that while we may a have a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; there is no right to a job. Where work rules do not replace the concept of capability with seniority, employers use low demand periods as opportunities to improve the level of their workforces. Desire or wishful thinking has nothing to do with it, product or service demand is the driver for growth in the private sector and economic improvement. Even then, in cases where demand for an existing product or service is increasing, employers first go to overtime, then to temporary contractors and only when continued greater demand is proven will new jobs be filled. Meeting seasonal retail demand is a good example. An increasingly used option is simply to increase product price and avoid all the hassle.
True, when an entrepreneur develops a new product, the demand forecast is the basis for new venture capital, but the investment, simply gives the prospective employer the ability to hire when and if necessary. Investment, of itself, does not create the jobs needed to produce the new product it is the hoped-for demand that does the creating. Sadly this is a long and complicated process and too often a very risky one.
To the dismay of many, who consider it socialism, the only sector that can create jobs in a fairly short time is the government. In a sense government is already providing jobs through unemployment benefits and then through welfare payments. Apparently there are some 15 million unemployed who are receiving benefits or have run out. I suspect there are at least that many who”s job consists of collecting welfare. If these 30 million people receive $1,500 per month or more, the country is spending $450 billion each year and getting nothing back except sales tax. Let alone health services at no cost. Personally, sometimes accepting the lesser of evils results in the greatest overall good and I am willing to swallow the socialism, restart things like WPA, and get some return for our money. To give some perspective, the $450 billion is only one-half of what is spent on defense and a great many retired people on Social Security get less than welfare recipients. Pretty obviously, things need to be fixed.
Guthrie “Guff” Worth
Lakeport
