Five challenges to “jobs are required” 

The After Capitalism work requires challenging myths, assumptions, and beliefs that will be uncomfortable to let go of. Last week we challenged growth is required. This week we’ll look at “jobs are required” and raise some long-term challenges to it. In today’s world, yes, you need a job. But the support for this assumption is weakening and will continued to do so as we move into the future (barring collapse):

1. Jobs and “going to work” are a relatively recent historical invention. Susan Lund of McKinsey reminds us that “the whole concept of a 9 to 5 job for life was a historical quirk. In 1900, 45% of people in the United States were self-employed.” Today, of course, it seems normal that full employment is the right goal and that it’s always been that way, and any suggestion of alternatives raises the boogeymen of socialism and communism.
2. Accelerating technology and automation could [eventually] do the work for us. The goods new is that if we play our cards reasonably well and take advantage of the massive gains possible from accelerating technology, we are likely to have the wealth to improve standards of living.
3. [Most of us] will be just fine if we don’t have jobs. The folklore of “idle hands are the devil’s workshop” is just that, folklore. Not having a job would be a shock to many people, but, folklore aside, there is no reason to believe people will not figure it out. I volunteer!
4. We could choose to work less instead of consuming more. Tim Jackson’s post-growth work notes the iron cage of consumerism as a self-reinforcing loop between the continual production of novelty by firms and the continuous consumption of novelty in households. We work more so we can buy more. The postmoderns are breaking out of this cage via enoughness.
5. We could choose a different wealth distribution system. Most people’s ability “make a living” and gain access to society’s wealth and resources are based upon the money earned from a job. It serves as the primary mechanism by which economy distributes wealth. So how do we get money to people if they don’t have jobs? Ideas such as welfare or social programs are stigmatized in many cultures, as are the concepts of socialism or communism – essentially they are “used futures” in a context that needs new ideas. Of course, this is at the heart of the post-capitalism research, and perhaps the toughest challenge of all.

I explore the jobs topic more thoroughly in “Getting Ready for a Post-Work Future.” – Andy Hines