We are living harsh times at the moment and many industries face increasing numbers in unemployment. While we wait for these industries to push back and try to reclaim some of the previous positions and bring new customers, I want to tell you the story of unemployment through the dogs and bones parable. This interpretation was done by Phil Harvey and it goes like this.
Image(s) sourced from Pixabay.com (Free for commercial use. No attribution required).
You put 95 bones in a room than you send 100 dogs to get bones. 5 dogs don't get any bones.
So, what happen it is that the economist takes those 5 dogs of to the side and they have a special training course with these dogs on how to get bones. And then they run the experiment all over again..
They send 100 dogs in to get 95 bones. And those 5 dogs come with bones this time and they say: See, anyone can get a bone if they work hard, train hard and compete hard....
Of course, 5 other dogs didn't get bones..
Unemployment is 5% of those dogs. They are not going to get bones. The only way to get right of this problem is 5 more bones.
And this is the harsh reality that we are facing in the work space where everybody runs after the bones and only few get them. There cannot be a perfect work market as on one side there are the companies that have specific needs and on the other one are the employees which have a limited set of qualifications. Probably the only way to integrate better the two of them is to plan everything ahead, but in an open, free space and also unequal socially there isn't any formula to achieve that. You can close the gap as much as you can, you can train as you go and maybe you will obtain reasonable social results, but will never be perfect.
Work hard, train hard and compete hard...is something that is implanted in our DNA and from the moment we are born and start living our life it seems we are doomed to grow upon those words.