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What is a Good Job?
By Lykke E. Andersen*,
La Paz,
19
February
2007.
“All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind.”
Aristotle
(384 BC - 322 BC)
“When a man tells you that he got rich through hard work, ask
him: 'Whose?'”
Don Marquis
Most poor people work in the informal sector in precarious,
low-paying jobs with no forms of social security. So key to
improving the living standards of the poor seems to be to
improve the quality of their jobs.
But what exactly constitutes a good job?
Thankfully, there is absolutely no consensus about that. Some
people love being doctors and saving lives whereas others would
surely faint in that job. Some people prefer outdoor jobs,
whereas others seem perfectly happy in an office environment.
Some people prefer jobs where they can express their creativity,
whereas others prefer jobs where they don’t have to think. Some
people prefer working with people, while others prefer to work
with numbers or ideas. For many people the salary is more
important than whether they like their job at all.
Most people seem to agree that higher salaries, more
job-security and more benefits would be attractive, but they
often forget that these attributes come at a cost. If higher
salaries were the only thing we cared about, we would all be
prostitutes or drug dealers (or whatever professions it is that
pay best).
In Bolivia, higher salaries, health insurance and job-security
is practically only available to people who agree to be locked
up in an office all day. (There are a few exceptions - teachers
and armed forces, for example - and those jobs are in high
demand.) To many people that locking up is either extremely
undesirable or outright impossible due to family obligations (5
kids and a sick grandfather to take care of, for example).
Also, in order to receive regular salaries and benefits you have
to work for other people. This means that all your hard work
benefits somebody else, whose values and objectives do not
necessarily coincide with yours.
Not to forget the 12 or 17 years of very inefficient schooling
you have to get through before you get access to this kind of
jobs.
Self-employment has considerable advantages, especially in the
informal sector where close to 100% of your earnings are for
yourself and your family (not the government and not your
bosses). Each person is free to put in as much or as little
effort as he chooses whenever he chooses, and virtually no time
is wasted on bureaucracy and meetings. The necessary training is
often done on the job, thus avoiding many wasted years in an
inefficient education system. Pensions are not withheld for
several decades, so each person can make individual savings
decisions depending on his particular needs, family structure
and investment opportunities. The incentive structure seems
ideal with no discouraging taxes or conflicts of interest.
Many people thrive in this completely liberal environment, as
you would expect.
But most people in the informal sector can barely make a living
out of it, which is worrying. If their productivity is so low in
the optimal setting (100% returns on your effort and complete
decision power and flexibility), it would surely be even lower
in a formal job with substantial constraints and disincentives.
So key to improving the lives of the poor is to improve their
productivity not to improve their jobs.
(*) Director, Institute for Advanced Development Studies, La
Paz, Bolivia. The author happily receives comments at the
following e-mail:
landersen@inesad.edu.bo.
Ó
Institute for Advanced Development Studies 2006.
The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the
author and do not necessarily coincide with those of the Institute
or the sponsors.
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