Brendan Greeley, one of the hosts of Bloomberg Surveillance, posed a question for one of the day's guest hosts. "What do you say to that person who is struggling to cobble together 40 hours in the service industry?" When Joel Kurtzman responded I was ill-prepared for his response. As I questioned if I had actually heard correctly, I quickly grabbed my remote control. Thanks to the ability to rewind - I did confirm I heard correctly. "People need to wake up".
It is difficult to place that statement, do I agree or do I disagree. Initially it comes off as arrogant and unsympathetic to the plight of the poor. Yes he spoke of "individual responsibility" being important when looking for a better paying job or yearning for a better life. But we are not all made equally, quality of education and the basic skills nurtured growing up are definitely not uniform across the board. Most of the people in those "service jobs" are really doing the very best they can under the circumstances. To ask them to "wake up" is nothing short of an insult. So Mr. Kurtzman with all due respect just because you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, it clearly does not follow that everyone had the same foundation for building a life.
That said I have also had the misfortune of meeting people who are for all intents and purposes "lazy". There are those of us who do the bare minimum, no drive at all. No yearn to soar above where they had after high school or college. Yes it is this group that Joel Kurtzman was referring to. Sometimes the path we choose is not working for our greater goal. It comes short of our basic needs. But then is it correct to be content when you are in a position of lack. Do we stay there and wait for a miracle? Or do we "wake up" and reinvent ourselves. It is hard to reconcile people saying they need jobs, and seeking that the government do more to create jobs. Statistics show that on March 31, 2015 job openings were at a staggering estimated 5.0 millions. Latest report has unemployment at 5.4% which translates to approximately 8 million people - who are said to the actively looking for a job.
There is definitely a mismatch of the skills that employers are looking for and the skill level of the 11.6% of the population that is unemployed, underemployed or purely discouraged. "Wake Call" does not seem as arrogant any more. Instead of being discouraged why not take the necessary steps to ensure you are adequately qualified for the job or pay you seek. People really do need to "wake up" to the fact that every other aspect of the economy "supply and demand" mean that there is a demand that needs to be met and the suppliers meet said demand. Since there is an unwillingness to improve one's skills to match the job opening, is it correct to term them "discouraged". Clearly they do not want to wake up to the demand.
