Where are the jobs? We sent them away (Oct. 28)
By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune
We’re hearing from the federal government that the recession is over and happy days are here again. But that may not be true. Unemployment remains high, likely to hit 10 percent soon. It likely will remain at that level for awhile, say experts.
You may wonder how unemployment can still be high if the recession is over. Nobody knows for sure, but I think part of the answer is that we have exported a lot of our jobs. This started back in the last century.
The people who used to make clothes for Americans worked in the Northeast, across the South and even here on the West Coast. Now, most of the people who make clothes for Americans work in China, India, Mexico and other places.
The people who used to make cars for Americans were mostly employed in Detroit and other Great Lakes cities, or in satellite plants in other states, such as California. Now, no cars are made in California, the nation’s largest auto market.
People still make cars in Detroit, but not nearly as many as before. Now, people who make cars for Americans work in Korea, Japan, Mexico, Canada.
Even the geniuses who brought about the high-tech revolution in such places as Silicon Valley are looking for jobs. The work they once did is now being done by geniuses in China, India, Pakistan and Indonesia.
Even a lot of the people who once answered telephones for Americans don’t work here any more. Now, the makers and answerers of business telephone calls for Americans are working in offices in Asian countries.
If we want hotel beds made and rooms cleaned, restaurant dishes washed, lawns mowed, crops picked — you name it — we import people from other countries; then they, too, eventually become jobless.
In short, a lot of us simply don’t work anymore, either by choice or not. We’ve come a long way, baby.
