4 ms·

In the USA, unemployment was elevated for several years, and is only now coming down to reasonable levels. More so, if you lack a college degree (and 74% of the

In the USA, unemployment was elevated for several years, and is only now coming down to reasonable levels. More so, if you lack a college degree (and 74% of the USA population lacks a college degree) then your chance of getting a good job is non-existent. In Europe, the unemployment rate is still elevated in most of the 27 countries in the EU. So what could possibly justify this sentence: "Admittedly, the dynamism of Western capitalism depends upon people who work with missionary zeal, who refuse to accept that a job is merely a job." Is it the "the dynamism of Western capitalism" that causes people to pretend to like their job, or is it the scarcity of good jobs, which forces workers to engage in an exaggerated pantomime of missionary zeal?

ekanes 12y ago
> Is it the "the dynamism of Western capitalism" that causes people to pretend to like their job, or is it the scarcity of good jobs, which forces workers to engage in an exaggerated pantomime of missionary zeal? Where in your choices are the people who love their work?
- icebraining 12y ago
  Those aren't being forced to smile, which is the context here.
jes 12y ago
Thanks for an interesting comment. I wonder if it's true that the unemployment rate is coming down to reasonable levels. As I understand it, the unemployment rate that is typically reported excludes people that have given up looking for work. I don't know if this is correct, but let's say that you had an economy where there were no jobs available. Precisely none. Over the long term, the unemployment rate would have to drift down to almost zero, as more and more people realized that there were no jobs available and gave up looking for work. As regards the sentence you ask about, I think I am one of the people that does not look at his work as merely a job. Perhaps it's because I do try to distinguish between my work, my craft, my trade, from the other aspects of who happens to be paying my invoices. Thoughts?
- jonas21 12y ago
  You're right that the official unemployment rate reported by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (U3) excludes "discouraged workers" who have given up looking for work. However, the BLS also publishes a rate that includes discouraged workers (U4), as well as a rate that includes "marginally attached workers" who would like to work, but for whatever reason have not looked for work recently (U5). All 3 of these have returned to normal levels [1]. There's also the U6 rate, which includes workers who are part-time, but would like to work full-time. [2] [1] http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=10Uy http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=10Uy [2] http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=10UE http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=10UE
maw 12y ago
I think you'll find that those aren't the only two possibilities.

ekanes 12y ago

> Is it the "the dynamism of Western capitalism" that causes people to pretend to like their job, or is it the scarcity of good jobs, which forces workers to engage in an exaggerated pantomime of missionary zeal? Where in your choices are the people who love their work?

icebraining 12y ago
Those aren't being forced to smile, which is the context here.

jes 12y ago

Thanks for an interesting comment. I wonder if it's true that the unemployment rate is coming down to reasonable levels. As I understand it, the unemployment rate that is typically reported excludes people that have given up looking for work. I don't know if this is correct, but let's say that you had an economy where there were no jobs available. Precisely none. Over the long term, the unemployment rate would have to drift down to almost zero, as more and more people realized that there were no jobs available and gave up looking for work. As regards the sentence you ask about, I think I am one of the people that does not look at his work as merely a job. Perhaps it's because I do try to distinguish between my work, my craft, my trade, from the other aspects of who happens to be paying my invoices. Thoughts?

jonas21 12y ago
You're right that the official unemployment rate reported by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (U3) excludes "discouraged workers" who have given up looking for work. However, the BLS also publishes a rate that includes discouraged workers (U4), as well as a rate that includes "marginally attached workers" who would like to work, but for whatever reason have not looked for work recently (U5). All 3 of these have returned to normal levels [1]. There's also the U6 rate, which includes workers who are part-time, but would like to work full-time. [2] [1] http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=10Uy http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=10Uy [2] http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=10UE http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=10UE

maw 12y ago

I think you'll find that those aren't the only two possibilities.