Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

I take issue with the way that people talk about jobs. I especially dislike the idea that the government can "create" jobs. Jobs aren't created, they grow, like mushrooms springing from the soil of unmet need. To try to create one would be like trying to piece together a mushroom out of artificial proteins. I hear that Obama wants to "create green jobs," but a job that has to have government money fueled into it continually is not sustainable. It's make-work, like when the teacher has you spend all your classtime copying vocabulary words from the back of the book. I do believe that governments can encourage the growth of jobs, most likely by stepping back, lifting regulations, and letting things run their course.

And then, besides "creating jobs" there's "destroying jobs." I recently had a conversation with someone I deeply respect about Wal-mart. She contended that Wal-mart is bad because it moves into small communities and destroys jobs by driving out small businesses. I, on the other hand, remember when Wal-mart moved out of my small town and set up shop in the next town over. There was weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth, and lots of bitter muttering about how Amory stole our Wal-mart.

But setting aside the fact that Wal-mart provides cheaper shopping for small, poor communities like my hometown, what is its effect on jobs? Well, if Wal-mart gets the same amount of selling done as small businesses with fewer employees, I guess it does destroy jobs. But is that actually bad?

Let me explain. A long time ago, 100% of humans were employed as hunter-gatherers. Then, one day, someone thought, "Hey, I can move these berry bushes into a field beside my cave and take care of them all!" Agriculture decreased the number of people it took making food in order to support a population, thus destroying thousands of jobs. Our jobless ancestors, then, looked around at each other and said, "Hey! We can do other stuff." Or, more probably, it took a generation for the children of unemployed hunters and gatherers to begin making clothing and learning about medicine.

Flash forward to the Industrial Revolution. The Luddites were scared out of their wits of new textile machines, which were putting them out of work. In the long run, however, the loss of factory jobs was good for everyone. Since the economy needed fewer factory workers, less urgent needs grew up, like so many spotted mushrooms, into new jobs. If it weren't for the Industrial Revolution we wouldn't have as many social workers or research scientists or professional athletes.

In the end, Wal-mart and weaving machines "destroy jobs" by increasing the output for person, making the whole world worth more. And that, increasing the worth of the world, is the secret to fighting poverty and disease and saving the environment and generally polishing life to a silvery luster.