How necessary is your job?

With politics being such a hot topic at the moment, I’ve been thinking about some of the issues politicians try to address in their campaigns. To me it seems that many of the arguments politicians put forward are outdated. They try to address a time that on the surface seems legitimate, they seem to make sense and talk about the practicalities of the age we live in, but in fact they completely ignore the reality of the modern world. A few examples include endless economic growth, money having intrinsic value, hunger in countries that throw out food, treating mental health and physical health as different, and the idea that the introduction of millions of automobiles, chemicals and pollution, coupled with constant connectivity and instant gratification, doesn’t have an effect on the well being of us and our planet. ANYWAY… the concept I’d like to focus on revolves around the subject of jobs. To me it makes sense that as technology improves, and as more and more daily tasks become automated, the need for humans to have monetary jobs decreases.

Some popular outcries I’ve come across are… “There aren’t enough jobs in this country”, “There’s no work” and the ever popular “I’ve tried to get a job, there’s nothing out there”. At the risk of taking some of these statements at face value, it stands to reason that many people are out of work. But somehow we as a society survive; so maybe the monetary concept of having a job has changed? What does having a job mean anyway? A couple of definitions I stole from Google (lawsuit pending) state that a job is “a paid position of regular employment” or “a task or piece of work, especially one that is paid”. Now I have a bone to pick with those definitions. Firstly, they inherently link jobs with money, which doesn’t practically represent anything any more (something I’ve justified in a previous post/rant). Secondly, it’s a basic entry level definition of a concept, that warrants a broader spectrum than a sound bite that can be tweeted 3.78 times.

It seems to me that during a simpler time, a job was something you did in order to fulfil your basic needs of survival, including but not limited to; food, shelter and reproduction. During these simpler times jobs included hunting and gathering food, building shelter and providing social support for one another, resulting in an even job to person ratio. In short, everyone would have had a job to do, whilst the concept of money was about as alive as corduroy trousers.

In the modern day not much has changed and these basic requirements must still be met. However, our technological advances mean less people are involved in fulfilling our basic needs, resulting in what I shall coin: “a bad job to person ratio”. Here’s a practical example off the top of my head, (hence the obscurity). During the early 1830’s, just before the combine harvester was invented, several people would have been needed to plant and harvest the grain. Grain was needed to provide one of our basic needs (food) and therefore this was a job that needed to be performed, providing a fairly even job to person ration. However, once the combine harvester was invented a job that would of taken several suddenly needed very few. Now apply this scenario exponentially over the next two centuries and we have a problem. Essentially, we now live in an age of an uneven job to person ratio. But then again, practically speaking…. THIS DOESN’T HAVE TO BE A PROBLEM!!! However, us clinging to the outdated concept of capitalism and the way we govern our land is a problem. Theoretically modern technology allows people to live without needing a monetary job. At least two of our basic needs (food and housing) can on the whole be fulfilled by technology. Which in turn leaves the human race in a very strong position. People should be free to develop the more rewarding aspects of their lives, such as creativity, self exploration, and self-improvement. Now I’m sure there are a countless number of people out there who are probably thinking “I love my job, I love what I do, self-exploration really doesn’t interest me”. If this is you then don’t panic, I believe there will always be human elements to any process and there will always be monetary jobs, a competitive environment and some form of monetary hierarchy.

Yet, surely there should be an option for those people who cherish different aspects of life, and find little value in monetary possessions, experiences and lifestyles. Surely they should be in charge of a their own destiny and they shouldn’t be confined to the stringent monetary rules of an outdated society.

It’s no secret that large chain super markets throw out millions of pounds worth of produce every year, even though people are starving. It’s no secret that there are thousands of empty houses even though people are dying on the streets homeless. So even though we’ve created a world where people can have a basic standard of living, without the need for people to have a monetary job, we haven’t accepted it as a reality or implemented a system where those people can survive and thrive. Instead we have an imbalanced society, where you either have too much or too little.

We’ve created a world where money is simply a number on a screen and jobs have often lost their necessity and meaning, I‘m fairly convinced travel agents, admin clerks, warehouse workers and Alex Zane won’t be around much longer.

What we should be striving for is a society that evenly distributes the food and housing that is currently going to waste, to all of its population. That way everyone can obtain a basic standard of living. Those who want to possess monetary jobs can do so as well, and they can buy monetary food, lavish possessions and live the life they choose. Those who want to live a basic life or work less hours can live the life they choose and maybe everyone could be, dare I say it? Happy! Well happy-ish anyway, I’m sure the second we implement something like this aliens will invade or we’ll discover that our universe sits in the marble of an 11-year-old boy. Sorry to end on a downer.. I’m only British after all.

Edit: About a month after I wrote this article, I came across a plan Switzerland has to trial a national living wage.

Which can be read about here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/switzerland-will-be-the-first-country-in-the-world-to-vote-on-having-a-national-wage-of-1700-a-month-a6843666.html