“Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain’t coming back.” We have been hearing about disappearing middle-class jobs even before Bruce Springsteen danced with Courteney Cox in 1984. An old theme? Well, some say this time really is different.
A Person: The words below are from Bob Rice, Managing Partner, Tangent Capital, from an extraordinary Bloomberg radio interview.
An Idea: “The problem is that we are coming into a period in society, I think, where, not everyone needs to be fully employed all of the time to make the economic output what we want it to be”
“This time really is different…there’s never been a period in human history like this so people can’t just point back to the industrial revolution and say, ‘Well that only changed the nature of the jobs, it didn’t eliminate jobs.’ It’s true, in the past it’s always been true, that’s why the economists are discounting this phenomenon right now.”
“I’m afraid that we’ve hit an elbow curve in the technology revolution that is irreversible”
I agree with Rice — technology is awesome, enhanced productivity and profits are great. As usual, there are winners and losers in economic shifts but how do we deal with a new normal of broader underemployment and lower-wage employment?
The dots are easy to connect. Formerly middle-class dads and moms having three and four jobs combined just to pay the bills. The empty neighborhoods in bankrupt (and technology rich?) Detroit and 13% unemployment in Puerto Rico. Like Rice, I’m an optimistic guy but sound the Scooby alarm (Ruh-Roh) and Listen to the interview.
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60 Minutes Piece on Technology Innovation
Why Workers Are Losing to Machines
