Bullshit Jobs

Since 1930, many expected the number of work hours to reduce as technological advances continued and more and more things could be done by machines. Obviously, that hasn’t happened. In fact, the hours per week have increased for most people. Why is that?

Sebastian Thrun’s response seems to explain why:

“When there are fewer jobs…one way to stay employed is to work even harder. So we see people working more, not less.”

But then I realized that this would imply that there are always new jobs getting created that need to be done. But on closer inspection, don’t you agree that most of the jobs today don’t have anything to do with the production and distribution of anything of any value to anyone? After all, what fraction of the world’s population is farming or delivering pizzas or, I don’t know, producing iPhones? And aren’t those some of the things people actually want/need?

The jobs most people do are the one that David Graeber calls “bullshit jobs”. Bullshit jobs include bureaucracy, telemarketing, corporate law, academic and health administration, human resources, and public relations:

“It’s as if someone were out there making up pointless jobs just for the sake of keeping us all working.”

Even worse, most people feel exactly that about their jobs. Of course, they won’t say it too often lest they lose their jobs!

“This is a profound psychological violence here. How can one even begin to speak of dignity in labour when one secretly feels one’s job should not exist?”

And ironically:

“In our society, there seems a general rule that, the more obviously one’s work benefits other people, the less one is likely to be paid for it.”

Need some examples?

“Say what you like about nurses, garbage collectors, or mechanics, it’s obvious that were they to vanish in a puff of smoke, the results would be immediate and catastrophic. A world without teachers or dock-workers would soon be in trouble.”

And at other end of the spectrum:

“It’s not entirely clear how humanity would suffer were all private equity CEOs, lobbyists, PR researchers, actuaries, telemarketers, bailiffs or legal consultants to similarly vanish.”

As Obelix would say, “These humans are crazy!”