4 ms·
It's not exactly that there wouldn't be some kind of safety nets in Europe. It's more that those safety nets become traps for some people. We don't need to and
by ptaipale 10y ago
It's not exactly that there wouldn't be some kind of safety nets in Europe. It's more that those safety nets become traps for some people.
We don't need to and we should not make employment unpleasant and stressful. The point of this article was that the current system is increasingly making employment unpleasant and stressful, and this is largely due to the dichotomy of having either strongly protected, "permanent" jobs, or non-protected temp jobs. The more protected these permanent jobs become, the scarcer they get. Added regulation does not really help, it will just make even those temp jobs more scarce as companies (and even government organisations) get more and more careful about hiring because of the high stakes and big commitment you make with the hiring decision.
Years ago, when I was freshly married and we had our first children, I was on a string of temp jobs - all with the same employer. The company lost significant markets, there were layoffs; the local union guy publicly said "we should throw out those temp guys to protect the permanent jobs".
I did not like that, and I have somewhat distrusted the unions (including mine, of senior salaried employees) ever since (even if I'm a member). One of the things that makes life so stressful is that employment becomes a game, something where you think you should manipulate other people and some artificial criteria, and build relations and scheme, to keep your job.
It would be less stressful just to have what you call "race to the bottom" and actually have a system where you try to do your job well and if there's need for that job, then do it.
- tormeh 10y ago>t's not exactly that there wouldn't be some kind of safety nets in Europe. It's more that those safety nets become traps for some people. You'd be surprised. Many of the southern countries have rigid labor laws and strong family ties instead of government safety nets .
- ptaipale 10y agoWith "southern countries" you mean Italy or Greece, for instance. I know, I know - you are right and I wonder why you're downvoted because what you say is not silly nor offensive. However, there the labour laws are in fact more rigid than in the "socialist" North European welfare states which have, in many ways, more of a market economy. For instance, the policymakers in Mediterranean countries have wanted to discourage laying off employees by increasing the burden to employers about laid-off staff: you have to pay a year's salary or more to a permanent employee who is laid off. And, in the end not very surprisingly, particularly the youth unemployment is exceptionally high in Greece, Spain, Italy and Portugal. What is stupid that in North Europe, the unions, such as Finland's SAK, want to have the same as in Italy. I guess there is no other plausible explanation than populism and short-term power grab by politicians who don't really care what their policies actually mean with all their side effects.
- michaelmrose 10y agoMaybe people ought to be less greedy or alternatively we ought to collectively put greedy shifty people ought of business by replacing them with businesses that suck less. This would be more effective if done in an organized fashion.
- maverick_iceman 10y agoYou mean change human nature? That experiment didn't go very well in Soviet Union or Maoist China.
- michaelmrose 10y agoI mean vote with our wallets, a very capitalist idea comrade.