Some People Want To Be Garbage Men

     We have a work problem.  And it’s not that there are whole sectors of work that aren’t counted in economics calculations.  And it’s not that robots are going to take our jobs.  Those certainly are issues, but we also have a problem with how people choose or are placed into careers.

     There are some kids who are obsessed with garbage trucks.  They collect toy garbage trucks, watch videos about them online, wait with anticipation to see them drive by on trash day, maybe they even dress up like them for Halloween.  You’d think if those grew up to be garbage men, that carried by the passion and knowledge they bring to the job, they’d be the best garbage men ever.

     But often these children don’t grow up to be garbage men.  There are a number of factors that may contribute to that decision.  There may be societal and familial pressures, instilling the belief that it isn’t glamorous or respectable to be garbage man.  Perhaps more importantly, garbage men aren’t paid very well.  So even if someone wanted to be a garbage man, they may opt instead to pursue a career in dentistry or business management in order to make more money, even if they will never be as good a dentist or manager as they would have been a garbage man.

     This poorly implemented incentive strategy could lead people to avoiding careers as teachers, social workers, baristas, support technicians, or any other low paying job, regardless of how important it is to have well-trained, engaged, passionate people in those careers.  This is also probably a contributing factor to the “Peter Principle”; the idea that people are promoted to the point of incompetence.  The pursuit of more pay leads people to seek higher positions even if they might prefer to stay, or if it might better benefit the organization for them to stay in a lower position.

     On the other end of the job spectrum, different factors may prevent workers from selecting high paid positions.  Someone might be the best CEO or VP or hedge fund manager, but they’d rather not work seventy hour weeks or make decisions that negatively impact their family, communities, employees, or the environment.  

     In an economic system obsessed with productivity, efficiency, and growth, you’d think we’d want a mechanism to get people into the job they will be best at and incentivize them to stay there. There’s an old saying in baseball that the greatest player in the game never picked up a bat.  Who knows what gains we’re missing by not properly placing workers. Instead we essentially use a market system, the “job market”, which is the root of some of the problems described above.

     I’m not at all advocating for central planning or job testing or anything like that, but I do think we need to reevaluate the way we define, value, and incentivize work.