6 ms·

- I hear a lot from people that issues like gay rights didn't hit home until they became friends with (or realized that they were friends with) a gay person. Si

- I hear a lot from people that issues like gay rights didn't hit home until they became friends with (or realized that they were friends with) a gay person. Similarly with for example Muslims. This article hit home there. - The point about jobs seems very spot on - jobs have been drying up throughout the Midwest, particularly steady/long-term low-education (i.e. manufacturing) jobs, and national leadership has not done anything to address it. The economic story of the last 8 years has been a recovery for the wealthy and financial sector only, so it's no wonder the rural midwest see no hope from the Democrats. It sounds like Trump's main plan for this is to create jobs for people that destroy the very environment they live in, which is tragic. Long term, I wonder what feasible plan could address the jobs issue besides a basic income, or massive government hiring for jobs like building infrastructure.

rtpg 10y ago
This is a bit besides the point, but my understanding is that a lot of the recovery has not been in high-skill jobs, but lower-skilled jobs. Especially in plaecs like Texas. Though these jobs were not being generated in rural areas
- spiritofenter 10y ago
  Thank you, I will try to research this for myself.
ianai 10y ago
I'm thinking drones help maximize how much distance you can place between workers in some abstract way. Maybe there's a way to use all of our technology to make rural America more relevant. I know you could outsource call center stuff if broadband were more available.
- threeseed 10y ago
  Call centres are the next industry to go. 5-10 years max. Machine/Deep Learning is rapidly improving beyond anyone's expectations and you only have to look at Microsoft's recent advancements in speech recognition that match humans to see the disruption in action.
  - wcummings 10y ago
    >Call centres are the next industry to go. 5-10 years max. "Bots" are the next gen automated phone menu.
- douche 10y ago
  Working in a call center is less rewarding than digging ditches. It's a crushing, soulless form of employment, and it will be a great thing for the world when machine learning or AI or Watson can handle all that tier 1-type support.
  - ianai 10y ago
    And people will instead do what, exactly?
    - douche 10y ago
      That is the great question... Human beings are becoming increasingly irrelevant as labor.
jacobolus 10y ago
> The economic story of the last 8 years has been a recovery for the wealthy and financial sector only, There’s a kernel of insight here, but as stated this is a grossly inaccurate summary. On the whole the economy is doing radically better than it was during the recession in almost every way. I recommend diving into BLS data yourself if you’re curious about particular regions, industries, etc.
- Jeema101 10y ago
  As a whole, sure, but real incomes have still been flat for the last 15 years so. The average American worker can feel that his or her standard of living is no longer increasing: http://www.multpl.com/us-average-real-income http://www.multpl.com/us-average-real-income
- spiritofenter 10y ago
  Thank you, I will try to educate myself. Here is one interesting plot: national employment-to-population ratio. Try plotting it from 1990 to 2016, it shows a significant drop in '08 which has not recovered very much since. http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS12300000 http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS12300000
  - jacobolus 10y ago
    There are a number of things going on here. You have to break the numbers down to get a fuller picture. First is that there has been population growth, and a continuing shift in the age demographics of the country. The absolute number of workers is now about 6% higher than before the recession, but there are also a larger number of retirees and other non-workers. In particular the percentage of people in prime “working age” range (25–54) is 5% lower than 10 years ago. The numbers of unemployed, underemployed, and discouraged workers are all way down since the recession. Many people decide to retire (either voluntarily or after being laid off) during a recession, with no plan to return to work. So you always get a bit of a “cliff” effect, where people who might have retired over the following several years all get bundled into one group, masking the “natural” shape of the data in absence of the recession. Many others decide to go to school in the years following a recession. A larger proportion of those in the 16–24 age range are students than before the recession. The numbers of unemployed and discouraged workers are both down nearly to their pre-recession levels. http://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-4/people-who-are-not-in-the-labor-force-why-arent-they-working.htm http://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-4/people-who-are-not-in-t... The 2014 percentage of people claiming to be not working because disabled/ill is up 1% compared to before recession. The percentage of retirees is up 1.5%. The percentage of students is up almost 1.5%. The percentage not working for “other reasons” is only up 0.3%.

rtpg 10y ago

This is a bit besides the point, but my understanding is that a lot of the recovery has not been in high-skill jobs, but lower-skilled jobs. Especially in plaecs like Texas. Though these jobs were not being generated in rural areas

spiritofenter 10y ago
Thank you, I will try to research this for myself.

ianai 10y ago

I'm thinking drones help maximize how much distance you can place between workers in some abstract way. Maybe there's a way to use all of our technology to make rural America more relevant. I know you could outsource call center stuff if broadband were more available.

threeseed 10y ago
Call centres are the next industry to go. 5-10 years max. Machine/Deep Learning is rapidly improving beyond anyone's expectations and you only have to look at Microsoft's recent advancements in speech recognition that match humans to see the disruption in action.
- wcummings 10y ago
  >Call centres are the next industry to go. 5-10 years max. "Bots" are the next gen automated phone menu.
douche 10y ago
Working in a call center is less rewarding than digging ditches. It's a crushing, soulless form of employment, and it will be a great thing for the world when machine learning or AI or Watson can handle all that tier 1-type support.
- ianai 10y ago
  And people will instead do what, exactly?
  - douche 10y ago
    That is the great question... Human beings are becoming increasingly irrelevant as labor.

jacobolus 10y ago

> The economic story of the last 8 years has been a recovery for the wealthy and financial sector only, There’s a kernel of insight here, but as stated this is a grossly inaccurate summary. On the whole the economy is doing radically better than it was during the recession in almost every way. I recommend diving into BLS data yourself if you’re curious about particular regions, industries, etc.

Jeema101 10y ago
As a whole, sure, but real incomes have still been flat for the last 15 years so. The average American worker can feel that his or her standard of living is no longer increasing: http://www.multpl.com/us-average-real-income http://www.multpl.com/us-average-real-income
spiritofenter 10y ago
Thank you, I will try to educate myself. Here is one interesting plot: national employment-to-population ratio. Try plotting it from 1990 to 2016, it shows a significant drop in '08 which has not recovered very much since. http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS12300000 http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS12300000
- jacobolus 10y ago
  There are a number of things going on here. You have to break the numbers down to get a fuller picture. First is that there has been population growth, and a continuing shift in the age demographics of the country. The absolute number of workers is now about 6% higher than before the recession, but there are also a larger number of retirees and other non-workers. In particular the percentage of people in prime “working age” range (25–54) is 5% lower than 10 years ago. The numbers of unemployed, underemployed, and discouraged workers are all way down since the recession. Many people decide to retire (either voluntarily or after being laid off) during a recession, with no plan to return to work. So you always get a bit of a “cliff” effect, where people who might have retired over the following several years all get bundled into one group, masking the “natural” shape of the data in absence of the recession. Many others decide to go to school in the years following a recession. A larger proportion of those in the 16–24 age range are students than before the recession. The numbers of unemployed and discouraged workers are both down nearly to their pre-recession levels. http://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-4/people-who-are-not-in-the-labor-force-why-arent-they-working.htm http://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-4/people-who-are-not-in-t... The 2014 percentage of people claiming to be not working because disabled/ill is up 1% compared to before recession. The percentage of retirees is up 1.5%. The percentage of students is up almost 1.5%. The percentage not working for “other reasons” is only up 0.3%.