EWOT Goggles #8

I intern at a sports talk radio station, WHTK, in the city three days a week, and today I walked into work to exactly what we learned in class today: loss of jobs, unemployment, etc.

I walked into the studio to find my host looking a bit sad. I asked him what was wrong.

He told me that the longtime producer of his show had been laid off from work. For his privacy, I will call him "Joe".

I felt horrible for Joe, as I had become close to him during my time working at WHTK. But apparently, Joe wasn't the only one laid off- a number of other people were laid off as well.

This made me think right back to class today. Although I feel horrible for Joe, I concluded that him being laid off may not be such a bad thing for the economy all because of what we learned in class today.

Today in class, Prof. Rizzo discussed how when technology/machinery takes away peoples' jobs, we as a society become wealthier because those people who lose jobs can go work in other areas and create new tools/items that will benefit us.

Now, assume that Joe was laid off because there was not a need for his services anymore (Joe was a very well-liked a respected producer, so the only reason explaining his layoff was that technology/mechanization could do the job he had previously been doing.) Of course, part of this technology/mechanization that is now able to do his job came from trade and exchange with other countries.

Joe's job as a producer was part-time. He also worked part-time at a clothing store. My show host told me that the clothing store had been wanting Joe to work full-time, but he couldn't because of his obligation to the radio show.

But now that mechanization and technology has gotten to the point where Joe's job is not needed, he can now focus more on his job at the clothing store and perhaps work full-time. This could make us wealthier as a society in a couple of ways:

1. Because Joe can now focus all of his energies at the clothing store, perhaps he will be able to innovate by making new products/developing new ideas that will appeal to the public. This would help our economy become wealthier because people would continue to and increasingly buy products at the clothing store, which puts more money into the economy.
2. Joe having his job taken away at the radio station could also reduce prices for prospective advertisers to advertise on the radio show. Not having to pay Joe (and other laid-off employees) a salary, the radio show may be able to sell advertisements at lower prices. Thus, these companies who buy the advertisements might be able to lower their prices for products as advertisements will not cost as much and they won't have to make as much money to pay off for the advertisements.
1. Thus, with the reduction in prices, people will have more money to spend elsewhere, which helps our economy because the more money we have to spend among different areas of the economy, the better off we are.

This is all a perfect example of how trade, exchange, and in this instance, unemployment, can make us wealthier. And it also shows how trade (which leads to an influx in technology and mechanization) does not destroy jobs, but rather, it creates different and in most instances, more beneficial ones to our society.