Technological Unemployment: Much More Than You Wanted to Know

Re:Technological Unemployment: Much More Than You Wanted to ... by zbentley on Tuesday February 20, 2018 @09:49AM (#16420672)

> There's a reason professions like doctory, investment banking, and consulting pay so much, they involve lots of sacrifice and/or job unhappiness that you have to pay people a lot to get them to commit to the job.

That's partly true, but there are other dynamics at work as well.

Expert sewage/waste management workers get paid a lot less than those trades, though their trade is necessary and involves lots of sacrifice/job unhappiness.

On the other hand, private military contractors and undersea welders make a premium, despite being nominally "service" or less popularly lauded jobs.

There are other factors at work in addition to this.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Technological Unemployment: Much More Than You Wanted to ... by jeffreyrogers on Tuesday February 20, 2018 @12:05PM (#16421855)

Private military contracting and undersea welding are both dangerous and require fairly specialized skills. Waste management, though critical for the proper functioning of society, is a low skill job and not particularly dangerous, which keeps the wages low.

And medicine, finance, and consulting, require a fair amount of intelligence and the barriers to entry are high, keeping wages high.

[ Parent | on HN ]