Korean Job Discussion Forums

[World Traveler]

[rollo]

lots of if's but yeah there seems to be improvement is jobs and lending. Finally starting to regain footing since the 2008 disaster. Down cycles like this take a long time to recover from If Europe will do some little things and actually begin to reform there is modest hope for a very good 2013.

[Unposter]

I'd say Europe is a mighty big if. In fact, I think it is not going to happen, at least in the short term. We've been having a jobless recovery for some time now. I wouldn't expect that to change anytime soon, certainly not with well-paying jobs at least. The best way to go forward is to just accept that this is the new normal. We've recovered and this is what "recovery" looks like.

At least not short of something radical such as a complete overhaul of the tax system which I wouldn't expect.

[Julius]

[Ya-ta Boy]

^
I wonder about that, too.

Once upon a time a Korean friend asked me about 'efficiency'. I didn't give a very good answer.

Is it really efficient to lay off an unskilled worker and let him/her beg on the streets, or is it more efficient to hand out scarves and sun hats and let the old ladies pull weeds on the road-side and therefore have some spending money?

Economic theory that pays no attention to how actual, real people live has little to do with governing, where you are responsible for the actual, real lives of actual, real people.

[Kuros]

[Ya-ta Boy]

^
That's all purely in the abstract.

Drive down any highway in Korea in the summer and you will see squads of ten or so older women in their 50's and 60's, covered up with sun hats, scarves, and long sleeve shirts squatting in the median pulling weeds. It would would be 'efficient' to buy one lawn mower and put those women out of work. Given the number of highways in this country, there must be thousands of these women putting food on their table doing this kind of grunt work.

Replace them with mowers and about the only thing left for these women of this age and skill set, is to buy boxes of fruits and vegetables and go into competition with the thousands of old women already doing that on every other street corner.

While efficiency in the long term is a worthy goal, I'd say that short/long term is a relative concept. Over decades, efficiency is good where an educated work force trained to use the most current technology available can be created. In the real world, it looks to me like Korea has wisely chosen the practical solution, since there are no other jobs for those thousands of workers and there is no real safety net for them to fall back on.

I am also reminded of the Amish. They have rejected much of modern technology and manage live decent productive lives. It isn't the kind of life everyone wants, but what is so enviable about modern lives in a consumer economy where many people openly admit they are unhappy in the rat race?

Humans are not unfeeling machines to be pushed, pinched, squeezed, trimmed, and crammed into cubicles that fit the Great Machine of producing ever more money (all too often for the lucky few). There are other values that need to be balanced into the equation of building a decent life.

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Kuros]

[Sergio Stefanuto]

[Ineverlie&I'malwaysri]

[lithium]

I predict that the economy will boom once investors know Obama is no longer the President.

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Dwenjoen88]

Economist also said there would be growth in 2011 last January.

Here's hoping things turn around in Europe.

[rollo]

There was growth in 2011 not much but growth, the jobs picture has improved. There are some good upward trends.