More About The Great Jobs Deception. . . 

We are told that if we study hard (in school) and work hard (in life), that we will be rewarded with meaningful work that pays us enough to support (at least) a comfortable middle-class lifestyle.

Some of us knew that there was something wrong with this model decades ago, but could not quite put our finger on it. We would take some classes, or even go back to school for a semester or to complete a degree. With this new knowledge in hand, we would go looking for better work–each time hoping that NOW we would be able to afford to live somewhere that didn’t involve a lengthy commute, we would be treated with respect at work, there would be a reasonable probability of upward mobility, and we would have enough to pay off our student loans.

Our political and business elites–who have the ear of legislators and the mouthpiece of the corporate media–constantly complain about a lack of skills or even a lack of workers.  What we DON’T see in the media is folks with college (and even graduate) degrees working in restaurant or retail work to make ends meet because they can’t secure employment commensurate with their skills and education. The system is more intent on shaming workers and keeping them on a constant treadmill of improving themselves, while the quality of jobs (which is only now starting to be measured) continues to deteriorate.

This study was designed to collect both statistics (generalizable patterns) and stories (the personal details) of the struggles of underemployed professionals. An IT engineer juggled multiple unpredictable gigs and barely made ends meet, while having to keep up (at his own expense) with ever-changing platforms and programs. Newly minted lawyers opened their own law practice when they were unable to secure traditional legal jobs, only to find out many of the people in their communities could not afford them. An epidemiologist could not promote herself enough to be assigned the “better” work in a sexist environment. A college instructor struggled to survive on piecemeal, unpredictable semester-by-semester gigs without access to the institutional resources (conference travel and research budgets) needed to advance her career.

The higher education system itself has become complicit in the degradation of work. Students are charged ever higher tuition, to be presented to the corporatocracy as “job ready,” but lacking higher level skills in critical thinking or the duties of citizenship (with which they could challenge the system). The students are indoctrinated to view themselves as fungible technocratic “skill sets” which can be “branded” and marketed like soulless commodities. When the promised reward does not materialize, the worker is exhorted to go back to school to get more “skills.”

Lifetime learning is a worthy goal, but it should result in improvement for both the individual learner and for society as a whole. Work–the way it is currently arranged–is not working for many of us. The Great Jobs Deception advocates for a revolution in how we earn our livelihoods.