Humanity of jobs has changed A perspective I wish someone would have given me.

Behaviors starting with interpersonal relationships ended in the labor market.

When I was a kid I remember life time relationships and friendships were all around me, then I heard about a 50% divorce rate and a trend towards nuclear families and the parading of independence by many. Eventually we ended up in the world where its commonly accepted to ghost one another, not keeping one’s word, and show an utter disregard for anyone outside of yourself – and we wonder how we ended up here.

In my opinion, the job market has always been 10 years behind social culture. It isn’t because the nature of jobs are changing (they are changing, but what we see is not because of AI), but because the value of humanity in the workforce has changed under the perhaps fair banner of business interests. Symptoms of this: being laid off after 5 years via email, or being ghosted after 6 rounds of interview. I remember in my last venture, one of my employees suggested we post fake job postings with no intention to hire. I couldn’t do it, but I see it all around me. Toying with the emotions of people in need has little value compared to the interests of the hiring companies, customers and so on.

Before I share what this means, I do have to caveat the understanding of the business cycle. I personally believe we are in a recession, but even if not, i’ve felt the uphill battle businesses feel against macroeconomic conditions – be it the pandemic, inflation, tight monetary policy, labor shortages – I’ve led companies in all those conditions. But there’s something remarkable to be said about what’s considered acceptable in how humans treat each other these days outside of the economy.

Anyway, it’s either a nobleman or a fools journey to try and change the entire world – and I am neither. The purpose of this note is to spread this awareness to someone else whom may not see things as clearly. Luckily, I was fortunate enough to do well in my career and develop financial discipline and some prudence as an investor – so that a change in culture or a dip in economic conditions has negligible impact on my life. I can afford to disappear from the corporate world if I so choose. However, I feel for the millions of Americans who were never exposed to these skill; whom spend up to their means and stretched their budgets to their limit in order to pay the most rent, and buy the most expensive luxury goods and experiences they could afford.  

In my opinion, the future of the labor market is – everyone is an independent actor. We always have been, but it’s just painfully more obvious now and more necessary for everyone to acknowledge than ever before.

If you’d like some help in developing your own financial strategy, feel free to reach out. I’m not a career coach but I can try to help you get to where I am via some simple financial planning and investing.