Work - is a lot of it just digging holes and filling them in again?

A heart that's full up like a landfill,
A job that slowly kills you,
Bruises that won't heal.



I raised this before on p.ie - the idea of work as something you have to do for 40 hours a week being unsustainable in the long run. Even in accepted economic theory there is always a certain amount of unemployement assumed. (Correct me if I'm wrong Ard-Taoiseach or whoever)

It's just a simple fact I'd say - not everyone can work for 40 hours a week all the time and this is likely to become more the case as we create stuff which makes jobs easier and work quicker etc. So are we reaching a point in public work where we will be creating jobs just for the sake of it? Are we doing that already? Is it called the Civil Service?

Maybe not is not the time but at some point in the near future we may have to come to the conclusion that the dole is better than some public jobs. Pat Kenny had a mighty go at someone last week on his show for defending the EU bureaucratic compulsion to translate every document into every language possible. PK made it sound very stark - there are tons of documents out there which go through the hands of professional translators every day but which will never be read by anyone, anywhere ever... Is it not only a waste of resources but a spiritually bankrupting thing to have to do this kind of work? And what about all the people who still make plastic bags for a living? Wouldn't a basic income and an incentive to travel/do a course in something be infinitely more satisfying and beneficial to sustainable 'growth'?

Citizen's wage? I favour it, but you need a society that is both free from the hangup that work is morally good, and equally free of the delusion that wealth is the only target to aim for, and the only measure of prestige.

I have to say, I don't find work to be depressing, but then I'm self-employed.

Auditor #9, you are quite right in stating that there will always be unemployment. There are things called structural unemployment and frictional unemployment which will always be with us, no matter how fast the economy grows or how many offices/factories/farms are opening.

In fact, it is desirable to have a certain level of unemployment since it weakens employees' scarcity power and hence their bargaining position. This means that wage growth is restrained and avoids inflation by reducing aggregate demand.

Like everything, unemployment is good in moderation.

A heart that's full up like a landfill,
A job that slowly kills you,
Bruises that won't heal.

Auditor, Edo and Cookiemonster, and truth be told myself too seem to be feeling the 7 year work itch. I can relate to that. So far my life has been neatly diced up into 7 year phases: 7 years student layabout, 7 years in television, 7 years in local government and 7 years self-employed.

Some of the phases overlapped, but each change gave me a fresh charge of energy.

At the moment I am feeling a bit itchy, but this round time unavoidable responsibilities may mean that I have to keep my nose to the wheel, shoulder to the grindstone etc. Aw what the heck, that is siucra, there is always another way...

Make a break for it lads !

working that loing was never necessary