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Politics Chatboard

Jobs - or the lack of them!!!!!!!

by T.E.C. - Iowa

May 21, 2017

The point: Quit expecting Pres. Trump to solve the jobs problem, because things are going to get worse!

I have written that driverless vehicles will destroy 5 to 6 million jobs in the future. However, this is small potatoes compared to what is happening in the retail industry. Retail is 10% of America's jobs (16 million jobs) and it is 75% female.

A great article is "The YUGE job losses Trump is ignoring: retail workers." It says:

(Quote)

Donald Trump loves to whine about jobs lost in the disappearing coal industry and in manufacturing. He brags that he will bring back coal and factory jobs—a promise he's unlikely to keep, even as his executive orders weaken industry regulations. But lost retail jobs hit America much harder, and he's silent about those. Those 89,000 people who lost retail jobs are more than the entirety—53,000—of those employed in the coal industry. While the coal, manufacturing, and retail industries have all suffered losses b...See MoreThe point: Quit expecting Pres. Trump to solve the jobs problem, because things are going to get worse!

I have written that driverless vehicles will destroy 5 to 6 million jobs in the future. However, this is small potatoes compared to what is happening in the retail industry. Retail is 10% of America's jobs (16 million jobs) and it is 75% female.

A great article is "The YUGE job losses Trump is ignoring: retail workers." It says:

(Quote)

Donald Trump loves to whine about jobs lost in the disappearing coal industry and in manufacturing. He brags that he will bring back coal and factory jobs—a promise he's unlikely to keep, even as his executive orders weaken industry regulations. But lost retail jobs hit America much harder, and he's silent about those. Those 89,000 people who lost retail jobs are more than the entirety—53,000—of those employed in the coal industry. While the coal, manufacturing, and retail industries have all suffered losses because of globalization and technological advances, the job losses aren't always equal. Department stores have lost 18 times more workers than coal mining since 2001.

(End quote)

It is true the pain is harder to see because it is spread out over the whole country rather than a few states - and it is women and minorities who are losing their jobs. It is also true American capitalism screwed up by over investing in retail space - as the article says, "the United States has 23.5 square feet of retail space per person, compared with 16.4 square feet in Canada and 11.1 square feet in Australia."

Some will say that the lost retail jobs will be replaced by warehouse jobs from eCommerce. Well the article goes on to say"

(Quote)

As retail workers in brick-and-mortar stores have lost jobs, hiring has picked up in online warehouses for companies like Amazon. But there are too few of those jobs to make up the difference, and many of those jobs are quickly getting automated.

(End quote)

And the other point: We are rapidly reaching the point where our economy cannot employ everyone - much less create jobs that pay a decent wage. Yet, our current economic thinking has no solutions that will not result in massive social upheaval.

We are still hearing about "wage flexibility", which is another way of saying "the workers need to be paid less."

Comment

(2)

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AW TEC, isn't it true that part of the retail jobs lost can be due to people getting full-time jobs? Retail jobs are mainly part-time or seasonal. You wrote: " Department stores have lost 18 times more workers than coal mining since 2001." I don't recall you mentioning this during the obama years. You also go on to claim: "It is true the pain is harde...See More

May 21, 2017

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T.E.C. - Iowa AW asked, "isn't it true that part of the retail jobs lost can be due to people getting full-time jobs?" Certainly, that is always happening! However, we are talking about a loss of jobs be they part-time or full-time. More to the point, shopping malls are collapsing - as in the article, " The shopping mall apocalypse is creating a $48 billion disa...See MoreAW asked, "isn't it true that part of the retail jobs lost can be due to people getting full-time jobs?" Certainly, that is always happening! However, we are talking about a loss of jobs be they part-time or full-time. More to the point, shopping malls are collapsing - as in the article, " The shopping mall apocalypse is creating a $48 billion disaster on Wall Street", which says:

(Quote)

Black Friday sales last year provided the latest proof of changing dynamics in the retail sector as consumers continued to move their shopping online. Online sales grew to $3.34 billion, up 22% compared to the previous year's figures, while sales at brick-and-mortar stores fell 5%.

The downturn in physical shopping has had ripple effects affecting malls. According to one analyst, more than half of America's malls will either shut down or continue to struggle in the coming years.

(End quote)

AW is correct with the comment "Two-thirds of Americans believe that, in 50 years, robots and computers will do much of the work humans now do."

The part that our current economic thinking does not get is this. If you continue to make one worker more and more productive - which robots certainly do - at some point real people should have to work much fewer hours - or not at all.

That is not what is happening in America! We are working employees harder and longer and the profits of the workers increased productivity go to the richest. The goal in this system is to keep the workers so desperate they will work for little. Yet, we live in a world that is so technologically advance that everyone's basic needs could be met. But that will not happen with our current system.

Current thinking demands low wages, more pollution, along with more human suffering and disease, and the net result is a few, who have more wealth than they can spend, get more.

PS: About the Obama years, I have been writing about the economy's inability to employ everyone for a long time. My most common comment is from economist Richard Wolff who points out that we have huge numbers of unemployed, and we have 20% of our tools, factories, and resources sitting idle. An economy that cannot put the two together to produce what we need is an economic "failure" - of the first order.

PPS: About "The Skills You Need", there is no MAJOR shortage of workers because of lack of skills. If that were true, you would see a sector of the economy experiencing big pay increases, because of demand. You may find small sectors with such problems, but there is no such MAJOR sector of our economy in which that is happening.

May 21, 2017

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