INTRODUCTION
The Church instructs us that work has deep meaning. Through work we are providing for the necessities of everyday life as well as shaping the world around us by our actions. This dignity of work extends far beyond the concerns for individuals, but embraces the concerns for nations to provide productive work for its citizens [see, e.g. Rerum Novarum: Encyclical Letter of Pope Leo Xiii on the Condition of Labor (with Discussion Club Outline). New York: Paulist Press, 1940.]
The Church also recognizes an important emphasis. Employers owe a moral duty to its employees to respect them beyond a mere means to profit. Employees must be respected as human beings and as being productive members of their community. Tradition, stale partisan categorization, and political roots must yield to a larger paradigm including the inviolate dignity of the human person, the underlying work performed, and the family life supported by work.
DISCUSSION
Work is inherently connected to the dignity of human beings. However, millions of potential workers are being denied the most basic dignity as a result of unemployment, underemployment, and unjust wages. Presently, unemployment is worsening at alarming rates.
Sure, the unemployed can collect governmental benefits to live in a sort of survival mode. But these benefits deprive the unemployed the satisfaction of accomplishment - a full days pay for a full days work. Collecting unemployment benefits likewise deflates the human spirit by providing a 'hand out' to replace a days work to provide for one's own needs as well as the needs of the family unit. The 'hand outs' in essence remove the satisfaction of self-sufficiency from the human equation. Left are the feelings of uselessness, indignity, and socio-economic individual depression, all counter to the human condition.
[Please note this article will not be discussing the alleged negative effects of enhanced stimulus benefits being paid to unemployed workers. Some claim these payments act as a disincentive for the unemployed to return to the job market. However, this is beyond the scope of the present discussion.]
The current situation with respect to government's approach to burgeoning unemployment displays a willful ignorance of the importance of work and its effect on human dignity. Governmental focus should be on jobs creation rather than the distribution of a monetary social benefit (unemployment check). Two methods of accomplishing this quickly come to mind: 1). public works projects of the nature contemplated by the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 which built dams, bridges, schools and hospitals in response to The Great Depression; and, 2). the provision of tax incentives to private sector businesses encouraging them to hire more employees.
No matter the vehicle utilized, the jobs created must be more than a mere job. Let me explain this by utilizing the lesson of the spoons by Milton Friedman as told by economics writer Steven Moore:
At one of our dinners, Milton recalled traveling to an
Asian country in the 1960s and visiting a worksite where a
new canal was being built. He was shocked to see that,
instead of modern tractors and earth movers, the workers
had shovels. He asked why there were so few machines. The
government bureaucrat explained: “You don’t understand.
This is a jobs program.” To which Milton replied: “Oh, I
thought you were trying to build a canal. If it’s jobs you
want, then you should give these workers spoons, not
shovels.”
[Quote Investigator. "If You Want Jobs Then Give These Workers Spoons Instead Of Shovels. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/10/10/spoons-shovels/ (Accessed May 11, 2021)]
What does the lesson of the spoons teach us? It humorously touches on more in depth issues concerning job creation for the mere act of providing work for work's sake, such as efficiency, productivity, and the purpose behind human work. A public works initiative must be more than simply a 'make-work' program. If you gave a worker a spoon and instructed them to go out and dig a road, the worker would find the proposition humorous and adopt the rational he/she was performing a made-up job. Pay under this circumstance is tantamount to the receipt of unemployment welfare - under this circumstance the worker might well stay home and wait for the check to come in the mail.
The 'spoons' must be replaced by real work of a substantial or necessary basis. A job without substance provides the worker no self-respect or dignity from performance of a 'spoon' mentality task. This lack of self respect and dignity derived from the menial job exerts negative influences deflating the worker's human spirit on the whole.
The same is required of the private sector. However, workers, whether employed or unemployed, possess the knowledge that the free market rewards people based upon factors outside of their control. Free market world economics of rewards for work are based on millions of diverse local factors. The variants include but are not limited to: local economic conditions, global trade, long term effects of natural disasters, development strategies, changes in global trade, etc.
Nonetheless, in the private sector, workers are looking for more than the sum of money they can squeeze out of their situation. Both the unemployed looking for work and the employed in providing the work seek to be valued by the effort put into the work performed.
With the continued falling labor participation rate in the United States, many are missing out on the dignity associated with possessing a job. Hard work coupled with the production of results with tangible value gives rise to feelings of self-worth especially when a societal reward is gained producing a decent middle class lifestyle. If this sounds familiar, this was the essence associated with Roosevelt's New Deal (if you work, you eat).
What can the government and private businesses do to address this problem. Well, buildings can be renovated or torn down to fix or beautify old structures; roads, sidewalks and bridges require rehabilitation to preserve and extend their use; public transit systems need expansion to meet the growing population demands; taxi's need to be driven; trucks need to roll to deliver goods; and, and trains need employees to insure better on-time arrivals.
There also exists the human factor. There is the provision of safe child care for working parents; the need for teachers to improve education by reducing class sizes; provision of care for the elderly; and the like.
All of these jobs suggested produce results that are real and tangible in nature. When a building is renovated and beautified the fruits of your labor is visible. When care is provided for the young, the job provides the worker a view of the real human benefit resulting from the effort.
The ultimate goal is to address the growing unemployed labor force through meaningful and purposeful job creation. By providing jobs that are devoid of the 'spoon' mentality but demonstrate clear and tangible results, worker's may earn the desired self respect and self satisfaction of a job well done.
This creation of dignified work gives rise to the contented worker. And with many contented workers being siphoned into the job market, overall and system wide improvement of the human spirit is possible. Unemployment and its resultant depressive trend can be reversed adding self sustaining and self reliant workers to the jobs market. It is therefore the self respect and self satisfaction that is derived from job creation of dignified work that will give rise to improved human spirit lacking in unemployed situations.
CONCLUSION
This article is entirely presented as a theoretical exercise. The author conducted no empirical studies as a basis for this presentation nor did the author rely on any empirical data relative to the content presented.
Opinions and conclusions herein contained are those of the author. You may feel free to agree or disagree with the content of this article at your pleasure.
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