Nonsense Jobs
Pfäffikon SZ, Switzerland – Publications about nonsense jobs are increasingly finding their way. Nonsense jobs are a form of employment that –economically seen– not contribute to anything. Some market researchers believe that nonsense jobs are deliberately created to keep the crowd senselessly quite. The fact is that also the financial world has added absurd jobs in the wake of a thick layer of opaque and pointless financial products.
Original
The financial world has been layering for many decades. As a result, the original concept of investing is getting more and more out of sight. That the financial world has nonsense jobs is widely know, but since 2008, we recognize the full extent of the absurdity.
2008
Trade programs and financial products have been made deliberately complicated, while it has nowhere contributed. Before 2008, a financial expert let you believe that this opaque approach was needed to minimize risks. Since 2008, we know that it is the exact opposite. The so-called safe investments came back like a boomerang with all its consequences. Extra painful is that these financial experts were paid royalties for a banging balloon. In the normal world, we call this the creation of a nonsense job that tends to be a form of scam. No value was created in any form. Additionally, I can assure you that there has not changed much nowadays.
Creation
There are plenty of companies who are guilty of the creation of nonsense jobs. At first glance, everything looks amazing, and the CEO is proud to show how the company has grown. That this creation is often built out of nonsense jobs, he does not mention. The green charts glow and move slowly toward the sky. Tough is that all the jobs that matter remain structurally underpaid. In fact, the trend is now that many useful and constructive work is offered underpaid or even free of charge.
The nonsense job covers an increasing proportion of the economy. The actual value creation is generated by only 25% of the working population. The advantage is that, by using their creativity, startups can track and eliminate the nonsense job faster. However, it seems that politics is not waiting for the elimination of the nonsense job. The government is in many cases world champion in creating meaningless jobs. Sinless jobs are expected to continue to form a major part of the economy the coming decades. These jobs will act as an inhibitory factor for growth and value creation.
It remains for me to wish you a good weekend.
Jan Dwarshuis is CIO at Thirteen Asset Management AG. Dwarshuis writes his columns in a personal capacity. Professionally, he holds positions in major European, American and Russian stock funds. The information in his columns is not intended as professional investment advice or a recommendation to make certain investments. At the time of writing, he has no position in above mentioned shares and has no intention of doing so in the next 72 hours.
