Politicians and economists talk frequently about jobs and creating jobs without having a clear idea about what types of jobs or how to create them! It seems like they do not even understand how to differentiate between the different types of jobs! Below I shed some light on this important topic.
HOW TO CREATE GOOD MIDDLE-CLASS JOBS?
Giving away billions of dollars of taxpayer money to corporations never creates jobs. Florida Governor Rick Scott gave away $266 million and got about 2,000 jobs for it. Look at the federal stimulus plan--almost a trillion dollars and where are the jobs?
Only one thing creates jobs, and that is DEMAND. Anyone can understand this. Businesses never hire people they don't need, no matter how much money you give them. When they need people, they hire them. When people are buying, companies hire people. When people aren't buying, they lay people off. It's true whether your business is a lemonade stand or a car company.
To create good middle-class jobs you need to organize demand. This requires leadership and a plan, and we don't need to spend taxpayer money creating these jobs.
WHAT ARE GOOD MIDDLE-CLASS JOBS?
A job that pays enough to buy a home, raise a family, educate the kids, enjoy a good life and provide for a nice retirement. These jobs make a good life for people, and build a strong economy for all of us. If everyone had a good middle-class job, government social costs would shrink to nothing, and that's the right way to reduce the size of government and reduce taxes.
Most of the jobs created under Florida Gov. Rick Scott--about 75% as many as we lost during the recession--are low-paying or minimum-wage jobs. When people don't earn enough to live, they need help from the state and federal government, like food stamps, medical care, and earned income tax benefits. This costs all of us money so that companies can keep wages low and profits high.
We need to focus on "wealth-creating jobs", the kind that add wealth to people and the economy, and cause more jobs to be created.
WHAT KIND OF JOBS IS "WEALTH-CREATING?"
Wealth-creating jobs are jobs that add new wealth to the economy. Construction and manufacturing--and all the jobs related to them--create new wealth that wasn't there before.
The problem is that our economy has shifted away from wealth-creating activities to the financial sector.
Trading stocks and derivatives, and most other financial activities, don't create new wealth. They just transfer existing wealth from one person to another. In fact, they also take money that could be used for real wealth-creating activities.
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