The Good Jobs
I cringe during political debates, especially those concerning the future of working America and the promise of jobs. In the presidential debates, the topic of development of the “good jobs” comes up again and again. President Obama, in 2011, said: in ten years, over half the jobs in America will require a college degree. However, in post pandemic America, almost two-thirds of people in the American Labor force doesn’t have a college degree, and the unemployment rate for young college graduates exceeds that of the general population. About 41 percent of college graduates in 2020 — and 33.8 percent of all college graduates — are working in jobs that don’t require a college degree. This occurred when there was “degree inflation” where many employers were requiring a degree when the tasks really didn’t require one. Why encourage a huge debt to start off in the work force if it isn’t necessary? But I find deeper problems with the concept of a “good job.”
White Collar vs Blue Collar
Since the government emphasizes that there are “good jobs” then there must be “bad jobs.” Which jobs are those? “The good jobs,” although undefined, appears to be the white collar vs blue collar worker attitude. During the debates, I felt sorry for those hourly employees in America. How it must feel to hear political candidates basically say “you don’t have a good job.” I am mature enough to understand the political rhetoric and that is not what they meant to say, but nevertheless that is what their promises and speeches were emphasizing.
If you want to get a headache, try and sort out the statistics collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
One thing becomes immediately apparent, the bureau drives political agendas that change from administration to administration. If we keep changing the definitions, such as who is unemployed, then it is almost impossible to compare numbers from year to year. Forbes and the Wall street journal appear to be more clear sources. Before we explore what is a good job, here are a few simple examples of the complication associated with the data. In 2023, about 60% of the U.S. work force is hourly employees. Self-employed people are not considered in the work force. CEO and business owners salaries are considered in salaried wages, greatly inflating the average income of the average salaried employee. Ranchers and farmers are not considered in the workforce numbers. As a result of the recent unintended COVID consequences, many companies have found their salaried employees redundant, unnecessary, or nonproductive resulting in huge layoffs and what is now being called a white collar recession. I only point out that information based on labor statistics is a complicated topic which requires some in depth study to get accurate comparisons. But I hope to use my experiences to explain why a good job means more than just a large paycheck or perhaps the lack of sweat.
One noble reason for this confusion about the “good jobs” is the desire of parents to want their children to have a better (easier and wealthier) life than they did. That’s what my parents told me: “Get an education and you won’t have to break your back like I did.” Although they probably tried to use this as motivation for me to do well in school, they may not have understood how this message could be wrongly interpreted.
Overcoming Necessity
A good job should provide one with a means to overcome necessity. Sometimes it may take more than one job. NECESSITY is primarily what stimulates us into action. The way we cope with necessity is what calls us into Being. How one copes with overcoming the necessities is what will develop their character. I remember my father plowing behind a mule to get started and then getting a tractor after he could get a loan. He walked row after row, acre after acre, with a fertilizer bag over his shoulder and a funnel and stove pipe, fertilizing the ground by hand. I remember our family picking squash, okra, corn and peanuts. Even us kids had chores to do as we contributed to the family. We freed up the time of our parents so they could do things we couldn’t (although it felt like slave labor at the time). Because we lived life and saw things grow, live, and die, we knew that Hollywood was entertainment and not reality or our moral compass. Although we were at the poverty level by today’s standards, my brother and I didn’t realize it. One got what they needed, or got ahead, by one’s efforts.
Taking charity, even from the government, was for the weak or infirm. Charity was a last resort to be taken when there was no other choice (meaning one couldn’t provide the necessities) and it was to be paid back in better times. When our farm failed, multiple jobs were the way to survival. Selling insurance, Christmas trees, construction jobs, waitressing and selling aprons made ends meet. Finally, (after moving half way across the U.S.) my father was able to use his machining skills to get a job at Boeing, and produce an income that allowed us to live above our basic needs. We were taught that hard work was the way to provide the necessities. If one wanted a toy, of some other non-necessity, then you performed extra tasks to earn it. That taught us respect for the effort that was required to obtain something. And that taking something (stealing) was actually robbing someone of their effort, not just the thing. And the person one stole from would have to work just as hard to replace it as they did to originally acquire it. My parents are gone now. I wonder how surprised they are that my fondest memories are not about living overseas, meetings in Washington D.C., my house, or the pool. Rather, my fondest memories are of the tougher times of hard work, a toy tank made from a thread spool, and watching my brother work a mule half to death by putting too much sorghum cane in the in the gear mill? If they didn’t have good jobs, then what am I missing?
One’s Understanding and Perspective of Work leads to having a Good Job
Obviously, certain jobs require more knowledge or higher skills, more physical or environmental risks, or there are few people who can do the job, and therefore, those jobs deserve higher rewards. But those other jobs that keep the toilets clean, the bacteria off our dishes, grow the crops and transport the food to our stores, are all noble efforts and should receive respect (not equal outcomes) for their part. Any of those efforts are better than the person that is capable of performing a job but chooses to take money by force from someone else who doesn’t have a say in how the efforts for his labors are spent. (Isn’t that really how taxes are generated?) With few exceptions, charity is no longer given…it is taken from the producers without their choice as to whom it goes.
To some, a good job appears to be one where the rewards are high with minimal effort or risk. That seems to negate the value of pride in one’s work and the rewards and meaning one gets from working. When Newsweek came out with the list of the Most Useless College Majors, I was disappointed to see Agriculture was listed as the #1 worthless degree by Terence Loose. This short sighted outlook is wrong on so many levels that it will require a book to address them all. But the underlying attitude regarding work is one that is addressed daily by all of us. Although we may be building nuclear power plants or sending robots to Mars, we don’t get far without the farmer or the trucker that gets the food to our table. We must think more closely about our work to develop a perspective of work’s importance to our lives.
Building Knowledge and Skills
The jobs we had on the farm contributed a lot more than simply providing necessities to us individually and collectively as a family. First, we were learning skills. Skills are transferable. We were learning how to use tools and their names. To use a tool, especially a hand tool, requires eye-hand coordination, application of forces, and learning maintenance of the tool. We learned the application of math and measurements, volumes and weights, and even hydraulics and fluid flow. We learned the importance of organization and that everything needed a place, especially when working with others. Tools needed to be put back where they belonged, so others would not waste time looking for the tool. We learned natural laws (from how plants and animals grow to gravity and sex). The use of power tools or equipment made work easier, but one needed to think quicker and react faster and we learned more power has the potential for more damage. We were building ourselves physically. We learned true conservation (if you want to learn how to conserve water…try carrying it from a well.), and recycling. We also learned about practicality and limitations of oneself and things.
Meaningful Work
Why are you doing that? I spend more time ensuring that people who work for me know “why” they are doing instead of just “what” they are doing. It gives meaning and purpose to the tasks. For example, one can say muck out those horse stalls and put the horse manure over there. The ranch hand will do the job and all he will think about is the smell, the insects, and the menial skills necessary to picking up manure. But if they know why they are picking up manure it often improves their attitude.
See, horses are coprophagic. That means it is common for them to eat their own feces. Flies and other parasites deposit eggs on the manure, the horse eats the manure, the parasites develop in the gut, so then we have to deworm the horses, or they get sick. Keeping the manure picked up helps break the cycle.
Manure left in the stalls or paddocks also grows bacterial which contributes to thrush (infected feet).
Flies gather around the mucus membranes around animals and they transmit disease from horse to horse. Fewer flies means less chance of infection.
Manure stinks and attracts insects, so mucking helps with fly control.
Manure is unattractive and our guests don’t like looking at it, walking in it, or smelling it. Thus our clients are more impressed and happier.
We compost the manure to raise the temperature and kill insect eggs and larvae. Composting also produces fertilizer.
So the ranch hand isn’t just picking up waste, he is significantly contributing to the wellness of the animals and the business as a whole. Perhaps we have good jobs if we look at our tasks’ overall contribution to our family or business. That’s something that has meaning and to be proud of. As long as we do the tasks well.
Pride in Your Work
The other day, I was looking at the interior of an antique safe at a mercantile store museum. I noticed the interior locking mechanism was hand engraved with intricate scroll work. Why, I thought, would anyone spend so much time putting this beautiful engraving in the interior of a safe? No one except the store owner and a trusted clerk would ever see it. It seemed like a wasted effort. Another person nearby said “isn’t it beautiful?” Then I had the answer to my question.
The engraver took pride in a job well done. The engraver didn’t know who would see it. He didn’t need outside approval. His satisfaction came from producing engraving and a very unique safe. This could explain why we have farmers, and carpenters, and horse grooms.
I believe a good job is one where one can look at the completed task and say: “I did that well.” The farmer can take pride in the prettiest bell pepper crop, or the trucker in getting it to market safely and on time, or the cattleman getting his cross genetics correct. One can take pride in mopping a floor and the floor is clean without sloping water on the baseboards. Even the guy who mucks the horse stalls can take pride in their work if they find meaning in it. Having pride in your work is internal and means the work will be done to the best of your ability. Pride in your work also drives one to do the tasks better.
If the cattleman botches a brand, he will figure out how to make the next one better, if he has pride in his work. It means that the need for supervision is minimal. Very importantly, having pride in your work usually means someone else isn’t going to have to do it again. That is a great value to the employer or consumer.
Self-Reliance
On the farm, everyone had a job to do and asking for help meant taking someone away from their chores. Sometimes asking was necessary, but you leaned to ask for help only when it was necessary.
We also learned that not doing your job well meant that someone else would either have to do it over, or critique the work and ensure it was done (again) properly. This did not help the person having to provide assistance or redo the work. It also did not improve their attitude toward you. I’m not talking about teaching someone how to do a job or do it better. Teaching is the same as sharing and will work to everyone’s advantage. Self-reliance is having the knowledge, skill, and abilities to do a task and doing it well, alone…consistently.
It didn’t take long to learn that it was more efficient to do a job right the first time. Also, one learned that when someone did ask for assistance they were not being simply lazy, they needed help. Understanding this, one would drop what they were doing and go lend a hand. This made you reliable in your family’s or neighbor’s eyes and a good person to have around. If you and the person in need decided to meet at another time to do a job, and you showed up, that means you were trustworthy and a person that kept their world. That is a great way to be thought about and a good reputation to have.
We learned to recognize our own strengths and weaknesses. Combining these lessons, and building one skill upon the other, provided us understanding and confidence in what we could attempt or accomplish. Our failures taught us limits and (although it may hurt) that we can not only endure and survive but we could use our lessons to do better and be successful at the task. There is always tomorrow (or as long as it takes to heal) to try again and do the task better.
Building Values and Ethics
The jobs we had contributed a lot more than simply providing necessities to us individually and collectively as a family. The skills we develop, finding meaning in work, taking pride in a job well done, and becoming self-reliant, makes one confident. Confidence cannot be given, it is earned. It is earned by trying and being successful at the task. One knows if they had to be helped or if they cheated, that does not build confidence. Confidence comes from doing it yourself. When one is confident in their knowledge and skills, have tried and eventually succeeded, then that becomes their reality. A good job exposes one to reality, and doesn’t protect them from it. This awareness of your strengths and skills, and knowledge that one can endure provides one with two other values that is important to one’s success and attitude: optimism and courage.
Optimism
Optimism is understanding reality, its harshness and associated suffering, and having the confidence that one can tolerate it as a minimum and perhaps even overcome and thrive in that reality. Optimism develops from having been successful at a good job or a series of good jobs. It recognizes but does dwell on failure and current conditions but provides us with the attitude that we can make reality better. Optimism is the belief we can accomplish desired goals through perseverance and effort. Optimism is the knowledge of our resiliency. We only need one more thing to bring about that success…courage.
Courage
I used to think that courage meant not being afraid. I was always afraid of objects flying at me, be it a football, baseball, or horseshoe. I thought only if I had the courage to catch these things. I saw courage as being there or not. One has courage or they don’t. Later, I learned that courage isn’t a thing, it is a choice. It is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. One learns to develop courage within themselves by attempting tasks. It’s the cumulation of all of those little task we have attempted, if we were successful or not. It is developed by the good jobs. It is choosing to attempt something with an unknown outcome but understanding that one may be risking something of value. By attempting to do something and being successful one enforces the courage to attempt it again. The failures taught us to let the failure go and that we survived (it didn’t often hurt that much). We figured out what we did wrong so we didn’t fail the next time.
So What is a Good Job?
I hope this exploration of jobs has helped us consider what makes a good job, beyond political rhetoric.
A job is a piece of work, especially a specific task done as part of the routine of one’s occupation for an agreed reward. A person may have one or several occupations in their life. I have had many jobs, and several occupations. But the jobs were always “toil” to produce something or provide a service to my employer or client. One can get satisfaction form their job, but it is still work. Too many people expect their job to be fun and entertaining. Not many employers or clients are going to pay for someone to have fun or be entertained.
Because all of us have different skills, physical abilities, aspirations, passions, and willingness to sacrifice, then defining a good job is very individualized and something that must be decided by each of us. I hope we can agree that the concept of a “good job” certainly goes far beyond the lack of physical exertion and hubristic pride (externally derived).
We need to keep the attitude that all work is noble. Any work is better than not working. A good attitude toward one’s work often leads to more opportunities.
A few characteristics of good jobs that we should look for and have our children and their children experience.
A good Job:
- Provides a competitive reward for your labor and a means to obtain your necessities. Sometimes it may take two or more jobs to do this.
- Provides an opportunity to develop and hone skills. Skills are transferable and will often help one in other jobs or occupations.
- Allows one to experience meaningful work. One needs to look at the contribution the job contributes to the whole and what the rewards contribute to one’s self and one’s family.
- Provides one the opportunity for internal (or authentic) pride in one’s work.
There are no good jobs if the worker doesn’t have a good attitude toward the opportunity and ability to work.
I was taking an opinion poll the other day and the question asked: “Which companies would you be proud to work for?” The next question was “Which companies would you be embarrassed to work for?” The light came on that that is a key issue for America. We shouldn’t be embarrassed to do ANY work. We should only be embarrassed if we do the work poorly or don’t work. We need to adopt an attitude that ALL work is noble. Also, ANY job is better than NO job. We need to reestablish the attitude that it is better to work for a wage than to take money from others.
As an example, ranching and cowboy work is, and always has been, hard. One toils for very long hours, outside in nature’s harsh environment. It is an inherently risky occupation. But the rewards are valuable. Perhaps not monetarily, but personally and to our families. Because of the characteristics of the occupation, cowboys have developed a set of values and ethics. So being a cowboy is more than just an occupation, it is a way of life. It’s a life with a great deal of meaning to the cowboy, his family, and his friends.
The work related values that the occupation enjoys are:
Courage, Optimism, and Self Reliance.
The ethics to which the cowboy holds himself to are: to be able to have pride in the work you do. Always finish what you start. And to do what has to be done.
One can’t just adopt these values and ethics, one must first understand them, and then act them out. Hopefully one will have a job where they will experience the rewards of practicing them. Ranching is an example of a good job.
To enjoy the ride you occasionally have to shovel some shit…That’s cowboy logic.