4 ms·

The notion of a job/employment is a new one for the vast majority of the world's population, Americans included. Most people were peasants/subsistence farmers,

The notion of a job/employment is a new one for the vast majority of the world's population, Americans included. Most people were peasants/subsistence farmers, or small time commercial farmers, or tradespeople (carpenter, blacksmith, furrier, etc.) who operated more like freelancers today than anything else. More recently, pre-WWI, many people were domestic servants, which is employment of course but not the same as working for a company today. Merchants are relatively new to human history. The legal construct of a company is much much newer than merchants. The company-employment boom is clearly ending. When you look at human history -- even limited to "civilized" history -- it's pretty clear that mass employment was the exception, not the rule, and now it's going away.

NTDF9 13y ago
This is a very interesting perspective. I never thought of it that way. One might add the fact that pre-WW1, most women were not a part of the workforce/merchant class/trader class(sad but true). So yes, employment is a relatively new thing.
toomuchtodo 13y ago
Looking at BLS participation rate data (which, unfortunately, only goes back to 1948), I have to agree with you: http://data.bls.gov/generated_files/graphics/latest_numbers_LNS11300000_1948_2013_all_period_M08_data.gif http://data.bls.gov/generated_files/graphics/latest_numbers_... http://archive.is/Cdwzp http://archive.is/Cdwzp We have boomers exiting the workforce while unskilled/less-skilled workers are unable to find a job, and discouraged, they exit the workforce. This is compounded by rapid technological advancements that are slowly eating their way up the skills ladder ("software eating the world"). I know your comment has a much longer time scale in mind, and my data is of a much smaller and recent time period, but I believe the argument still stands: Mass employment is ending. I don't know what the solution is, but we need to find one.
eli_gottlieb 13y ago
Uuuh... actually... there were merchant and wage-worker classes all the way back to ancient Mesopotamia's very first civilizations. What's new is to have almost all of society basically split into merchants, wage-workers, and holders of political office.
- ahoyhere 13y ago
  That's why I said "new… for a vast majority of people."

NTDF9 13y ago

This is a very interesting perspective. I never thought of it that way. One might add the fact that pre-WW1, most women were not a part of the workforce/merchant class/trader class(sad but true). So yes, employment is a relatively new thing.

toomuchtodo 13y ago

Looking at BLS participation rate data (which, unfortunately, only goes back to 1948), I have to agree with you: http://data.bls.gov/generated_files/graphics/latest_numbers_LNS11300000_1948_2013_all_period_M08_data.gif http://data.bls.gov/generated_files/graphics/latest_numbers_... http://archive.is/Cdwzp http://archive.is/Cdwzp We have boomers exiting the workforce while unskilled/less-skilled workers are unable to find a job, and discouraged, they exit the workforce. This is compounded by rapid technological advancements that are slowly eating their way up the skills ladder ("software eating the world"). I know your comment has a much longer time scale in mind, and my data is of a much smaller and recent time period, but I believe the argument still stands: Mass employment is ending. I don't know what the solution is, but we need to find one.

eli_gottlieb 13y ago

Uuuh... actually... there were merchant and wage-worker classes all the way back to ancient Mesopotamia's very first civilizations. What's new is to have almost all of society basically split into merchants, wage-workers, and holders of political office.

ahoyhere 13y ago
That's why I said "new… for a vast majority of people."