Untapped Efficiency
One of the reasons that the current recession is taking so long to recover is tied, economists say, to the elimination of so many non-productive jobs with computer aided technology. In some cases this technology is not new and has been in use for a number of years. It has taken a severe jolt to the overall economy to motivate businesses to take full advantage of the productivity tools (computers, word processing and spread sheets, and integrated accounting systems like SAP). There is no reason for the jobs people used to do in these areas to return.
The other side of this coin is that new companies should be able to run more efficiently (read at lower cost). Extending this idea suggests that regaining some lost manufacturing jobs should be possible if the companies run at these new efficiency levels. Ocean transportation, riding Chinese labor costs, and a more competitive US climate all harbor well for US jobs. New companies and new manufacturing jobs will in turn support new services (and new jobs in those services), and so on.
Rebuilding jobs is a much bigger task than just described. There are still massive areas where inefficiency remains untouched. Government agencies (simple inefficiency as well as desire to employ people for social or political reasons), hospitals and health services (there is a payer and no check on rising health care costs), and the military-industrial combo (bloated defense department spending) are stuffed with extra jobs. The rebirth of American jobs must accommodate all those out of work today plus all those who should be out of work but are not.
As the pressure builds to balance our budget, the enormous defense budget and the scope and magnitude of government bureaucracies, will present irresistible opportunities to trim employment. What an opportunity for the private sector and the tax payer.
It is all about competitive jobs in a competitive work place.
This entry was posted on July 28, 2010 at 11:13 am and is filed under Barack Obama, Democratic Party, Politics, Republican Party. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
Tags: economy, exports, health care, jobs, military-industrial, productivity, unemployed, work
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