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Underemployment is an entirely subjective concept though. Having skills that that you can’t sell due to insufficient demand doesn’t necessarily say anything abo

Underemployment is an entirely subjective concept though. Having skills that that you can’t sell due to insufficient demand doesn’t necessarily say anything about the market at all.

Can_Not 7y ago
One person not being able to sell their skills is a personal problem, a significant number of people who can't find work with their skillset and a significant number of employers unable to find people with skills is a market failure. We're at a market failure and there is economic loss as a result.
- AmericanChopper 7y ago
  Yeah not really. It depends on a lot more context than just number of skilled people unable to find employment. If I became the best person in the world at playing Pac-Man, but couldn’t find a job as a professional Pac-Man player, it would be ridiculous to say I was underemployed. The only situation I would find it reasonable to describe underemployment as a problem is when people who’s skills were marketable at the time they acquired them, are no longer marketable. But even then, it takes more context to describe that as a market failure. If I decided to never learn another skill at work, then my skills would eventually become obsolete. In that situation, the market hasn’t failed me, I have failed me. Then you have people who’s skills were known to be completely unmarketable at the time they acquired them. This isn’t a market failure in any way. The most common context where this occurs could be described as a governance failure though. The fact that you can get huge amounts of credit to pursue an education that doesn’t have any market value at all isn’t a market failure. It’s a failure of government for financially guaranteeing something that doesn’t have any value. When people who made bad decisions fail, that is a market success.
  - Can_Not 7y ago
    > If I became the best person in the world at playing Pac-Man, but couldn’t find a job as a professional Pac-Man player, it would be ridiculous to say I was underemployed. It would be ridiculous, because we're not talking about one person with a fringe occupation as a strawman, we're talking about large groups of normal people facing systemic problems.
    - AmericanChopper 7y ago
      Putting aside the fact that this assessment is really just your opinion, what was your reasons for claiming this is a market failure? I believe you never got around to mentioning that.
tonyedgecombe 7y ago
It does include part time workers who would like to be full time, so can't be "entirely subjective".
- AmericanChopper 7y ago
  Well that sounds quite rational. But I don’t think that’s what comments here are referring to. Those discussions tend to be focused on people employed below their level of skill. Like a college graduate working in a job that doesn’t require a degree.

Underemployment is an entirely subjective concept though. Having skills that that you can’t sell due to insufficient demand doesn’t necessarily say anything about the market at all.

Can_Not 7y ago

One person not being able to sell their skills is a personal problem, a significant number of people who can't find work with their skillset and a significant number of employers unable to find people with skills is a market failure. We're at a market failure and there is economic loss as a result.

AmericanChopper 7y ago
Yeah not really. It depends on a lot more context than just number of skilled people unable to find employment. If I became the best person in the world at playing Pac-Man, but couldn’t find a job as a professional Pac-Man player, it would be ridiculous to say I was underemployed. The only situation I would find it reasonable to describe underemployment as a problem is when people who’s skills were marketable at the time they acquired them, are no longer marketable. But even then, it takes more context to describe that as a market failure. If I decided to never learn another skill at work, then my skills would eventually become obsolete. In that situation, the market hasn’t failed me, I have failed me. Then you have people who’s skills were known to be completely unmarketable at the time they acquired them. This isn’t a market failure in any way. The most common context where this occurs could be described as a governance failure though. The fact that you can get huge amounts of credit to pursue an education that doesn’t have any market value at all isn’t a market failure. It’s a failure of government for financially guaranteeing something that doesn’t have any value. When people who made bad decisions fail, that is a market success.
- Can_Not 7y ago
  > If I became the best person in the world at playing Pac-Man, but couldn’t find a job as a professional Pac-Man player, it would be ridiculous to say I was underemployed. It would be ridiculous, because we're not talking about one person with a fringe occupation as a strawman, we're talking about large groups of normal people facing systemic problems.
  - AmericanChopper 7y ago
    Putting aside the fact that this assessment is really just your opinion, what was your reasons for claiming this is a market failure? I believe you never got around to mentioning that.

tonyedgecombe 7y ago

It does include part time workers who would like to be full time, so can't be "entirely subjective".

AmericanChopper 7y ago
Well that sounds quite rational. But I don’t think that’s what comments here are referring to. Those discussions tend to be focused on people employed below their level of skill. Like a college graduate working in a job that doesn’t require a degree.