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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2830 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 20, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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How to combine the seemingly contradicting angles that "NNN jobs created == good" and that historically, economy grows by making jobs obsolete? (and what is proper wording for my question)?

When politicians talk about creating jobs, they're mostly full of crap, but aside from that, there are two different kinds of job creation:

  1. Makework, where we intentionally use more labor than is necessary to get the job done. This is bad.
  2. Finding a way to get more done by employing previously unemployed workers, or finding a more productive use for currently employed workers. This is good.

The economy is a giant to-do list, and we all contribute tasks to it (I might add "Put bread on the shelf at the grocery store for me" to the list, and the grocery store manager is simply anticipating this from me and others like me). We're also helping cross things off of it. More jobs means more people are crossing tasks off the list, and the helpers benefit as a function of how important the task is (roughly). Technology helps us cross off more things faster.

I love this metaphor.

The process of creative destruction continuously eliminates some jobs and (thus far) creates others, or creates the possibility of their existence through rising productivity and disposable incomes. The economy grows as productivity rises, which is (in large part) the result of technological progress.

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