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> Any such make-work jobs proposal is obviously paying a premium over the actual value of the work (which is why the same job isn't available in the market alre
by xaa 12y ago
> Any such make-work jobs proposal is obviously paying a premium over the actual value of the work (which is why the same job isn't available in the market already)
Wouldn't the government be providing these "make-work" jobs? The government regularly creates jobs, like research and infrastructure development, that would not be profitable for any private entity. Value can be calculated either from the perspective of the employer, or from the perspective of society at large, but the market only creates jobs which are valuable according to criterion #1.
In my view, this is the essential function of government. It is fascinating that, if you look back 2-3 years, when unemployment was still quite high, the private sector had recovered completely in terms of employment -- all the unemployment was actually being caused by reduced government spending (mostly on the state or local level).
- dllthomas 12y agoI don't know that dragonwriter meant to exclude government employment from "the market". If we include it, the question remains approximately as strong. If there is useful work to be done, we should employ them to do that work, but we should do that based on the work we see to be done, not based on some notion that people having freedom to choose how they spend their time is bad.