How many jobs exist for things that don’t “need to be done” though? I’m aware the definition of “need” is a can of worms - but as an example, I know plenty of

How many jobs exist for things that don’t “need to be done” though? I’m aware the definition of “need” is a can of worms - but as an example, I know plenty of people who started doing call-center work in their early-20s while they “figure out what I want to do with their life” and by the time they know what they want to do (and it’s definitely not call-center work!) they’re trapped in their jobs, especially as after a few years they will have moved-out of their parents’ home - so having to pay rent and cover their cost-of-living while they’re getting started or experimenting with their own personal life projects (e.g. doing art, etc) is unfeasible - and don’t suggest getting a loan either. Meanwhile people with wealthier and accommodating parents can afford to take their time living off their parents - I see this as an example of the inequality of opportunity in our society. Another example is the unseen and underreported unpaid work that exists, such as when a family has a child and the child has a disability that requires extra care: if they’re a married couple then one of them would drop-out of their career to become a full-time - unpaid - caregiver. If it’s a single—parent situation then the outcomes are often heartbreaking. This isn’t the society I want to live in. UBI would mean the cost of labor for “McJob”s would rise - probably significantly (UBI would mean the end of the minimum wage, however) - but having fewer people doing jobs they don’t want to do means greater net happiness and we’d see further rises in automation - which further raises GDP. I see employers using human labor for unrewarding work because it’s cheaper than automation as a terrible local-maxima in our system. We just need to push past it to get to an even bigger maxima.