Topical thread…What is a good job?
I suggest these questions, but this is not a question about ideal jobs in imagination but real jobs that are attainable.
I think all of us have some notion of what elements constitute a ‘good’ job in the broad perspective (policy and macro), and given human nature varies according to personal goals, age, and circumstance. It has also varied widely in historical context. The term is used a lot in policy debates on employment and unemployment as well.
It is much easier to reach a consensus on the definition of a bad job than to agree on what constitutes a good job.
Is a good job one in a particular industry or sector?
The question of the length of employment contracts matters?
Is a good job one that comes with employer-provided benefits?
What is the relationship between wages and the definition of a good job?
A final question about the definition of a good job involves the relationship of the worker to the employer.
Personal satisfaction of some kind? Social status? Conscience?
When American median wage earners are getting what the minimum wage likely should be, $15/hr, and a fifth of the American work force is actually earning less than LBJ’s $10/hr minimum wage (adjusted) — double the average income later — a good job is one that pays as much as most Americans would get paid if they could bargain effectively (assuming they ever gave any thought to bargaining effectively).
Thought for the day: A market operates at its fairest and most efficient when both parties to a contract are extracting the maximum price the other is willing to pay.
In unionless (and union heedless) America there is only the race to the bottom. When the great recession is over the great wage depression will go on and on — unless something changes radically. Of course that means unless we adopt legally mandated, sector-wide labor contracts. Only modern OECD economies with this set up have fair labor markets. If there is another answer I would like someone to tell us what it is. If there is not why are we not telling everyone all about sector-wide bargaining.
Having spent the past four days focuesed on Spongebob Squarepants and the Dinosaur Train, Mrs. R and me decided yesterday evening that cartoonist is the ideal job.
(Mrs. R is a little tired of full contact ju jitsu with Alzheimers patients followed by reams of government mandated useless paperwork, so maybe her opinion is skewed a bit, not to mention four injuries (minor) in one week.)
Several decades ago in graduate income theory (accounting version) we spent time on “psychic income,” that is the satisfaction derived from work and business activity.
Clearly not all work has the same level of psychic income, nor of monetary income.
But then all work does not have the same level of responsibility or physicial activity or travel or stress, etc.
When I was young operating huge machines and shoveling asphalt actually had considerable psychic income in a macho sort of way, even considering the traffic hazards, the inherent danger and a couple of injuries. The pay was pretty good, the evening drinking bouts were fun and there was considerable satisfaction in completing projects, plus paying for college.
At my age now ten minutes of shoveling asphalt would put me in the orthopedic ward.
Of all of the jobs I have had the two I enjoyed the most have been professor (ridiculously low stress and easy work) and an executive in a high pressure reorganization situation. Different combination, different rewards, different satisfaction.
Interesting question. Hope to see plenty of perspectives.
A good job is one that does good things for other people. If you get paid fairly, so much the better. For women, government jobs usually provide equal pay for the same work. That’s very important. Of course, since the standard is now the less the better in pay and benefits, I don’t expect that course to be open to people for long. Unions kill, ya know. NancyO
A good job is doing what you please all day long and getting paid for it because it aligns with the best value of your time to your employer. Come to think of it, why did I retire?
In many respects it depends. Keep in mind that manufacturing used to a very bad job, long hours dangerous work low pay. Then they unionized. Of course that doesn’t happen with today’s jobs because unionization is now no longer fully legal in the US.
Mmm. 🙂
I didn’t drive cabs for 30 years because I had any desire to do good things for people. Ditto for my years as a NYC Dept. of Buildings clerk nor as a NYC street peddler nor as furniture warehous worker nor as a hotel clerk. Come to think of it I never took a single job in my life because I wanted to do good things for people.
What kind of job would that be? 🙂
Well, gee, all the jobs I had in SSA for 32 years helped other people, ddrew2. I wouldn’t have worked there otherwise. NancyO
A good job is one that allows you to spend 30% or less of your income on housing, able to afford food, utilities, healthcare, clothing with 20% left for entertainment and savings.
Either CEO or a lottery winner. I’d probably go for the latter, because then I’d feel I’d earned it.
I would say a good job is all of the above except that enough in wages can trump any and all the others.
Heck, give me two million dollars a year and I would go dodge bullets in afganistan for a year or two. How those guys do it on what they make I will never know.
As far as what makes the minimum for a “good” job, I think it changes through time starting rather low and increasing over the years. Basically, anything that allows me to keep up with my friends is a good job. So for me, I guess it comes down to pride. By this standard it sort of matters where your starting point is and who your friends are. I imagine the minimum good job for Obama’s kids would be quite a bit better then for my kids.
Men who gravitate to police or military are different than you and me. Get to know one… scary scary scary…. borderline or full on sociopaths… prison guards are a particularly scary lot. Lots of power over the powerless… it breeds monsters.