Go to where the money is; go to Washington
No one is suggesting as Horace Greeley once said that opportunities lie in the West, in places like the state of Washington. Although the country has been in its worst period of unemployment since the Great Depression, people have been finding jobs in Washington DC and other bastions of government rather than going to areas traditionally known for finance and manufacturing. Why is this an unhealthy sign for all Americans?
Image by ~MVI~ via Flickr
Consider the following facts. Unemployment in the nation’s capital has been 40% less than the national average. Home prices inside the beltway have increased while real estate prices continue to drop in the other top twenty metro areas. Government workers are paid more for like-jobs, are blessed with better benefits and pension plans and have greater job security than private sector employees.
Possibly the biggest reason for going to Washington, DC is that it was virtually the only place that was hiring during the past few years. The government added to its payroll while businesses across the country were shedding workers. And with the size of the public sector growing and government spending increasing came more lobbyists as well as others looking for a piece of the federal money pie.
Just 50 years ago there were 15 million American workers engaged in manufacturing and 8.7 million on the government payroll. The numbers have flip-flopped with only 11.5 million workers in the manufacturing sector and almost twice as many, 22.5 million, public employees, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article by Stephen Moore. Some may say that manufacturing has downsized due to off-shore manufacturing growth. However, automation and other efficiencies have made the American worker more productive than any other worker in the world, more than double the output of 1960.
During the same period, under the not-so-watchful eye of politicians, government jobs, as Moore reports, have exceeded employment in construction, farming, fishing, forestry, manufacturing, mining and utilities combined. No wonder many young people are considering work at the federal, state and local government the safe career path to follow. There is little or no incentive to produce in a government job and no means of measuring personal success. So aside from the personal pride that comes with a job well done, why should government strive to achieve?
Those who grew up in the days of America’s exceptionalism being a source of national pride and a challenge to individuals to be and do their best can’t help but be saddened by the turn of events that has lead to an underachiever mentality among many workers, particularly our youth. If the United States hopes to regain its leadership role in commerce, it will be through excellence in what we produce for the rest of the world not in supporting a workforce dependent on taxes extracted from other peoples’ income in order to provide lifetime employment for those who choose to be bureaucrats.
Discussion Area - Leave a Comment