Jobs lost in tough economy appear to be gone for good
Dominic DeCono
In the 21st century, some jobs lost are jobs that will never come back.
In the past few years there have been many jobs reports talking about the number of both the jobs added and lost in this turbulent economy.
One statistic that is often lost in those numbers is jobs that are permanently lost and replaced by a more efficient faction.
Kendra Dahl, a production manager for Timber and Turpentine, said because of the efficiency of machines and systems used in factories today, there are less people needed to work.
“Companies are always trying to find ways to make profit. If that means replacing manual labor from an employee with a machine and we can get the same results, then that’s what has to happen,” she said.
Dahl also said this trend has been happening in manufacturing companies for quite some time now.
“Factories and plants that had several hundred workers decades ago might only have 50 or so now because companies have figured out better ways to make the same product,” Dahl said.
But Dahl said there isn’t one sole reason why some jobs are permanently leaving, there are many.
“Machines, outsourcing and more efficient production are the primary reasons why jobs are leaving the bigger corporations. Paying for the cost of employee labor and benefits is also forcing some companies to make difficult choices as well,” Dahl said.
The Congressional Budget Committee reports that more than seven million jobs have been lost since the beginning of what some economists are calling the ‘Great Recession’.
But the same report finds that nearly two million of those jobs will never come back.
Jessica Murdock, a student at MCC, said she is fearful of the job market when she graduates from college.
“I want to go into accounting but if so many of these jobs are going out the window left and right, it makes me uncertain a job will be available for me when I finally am done with school,” Murdock said.
Murdock also said she is skeptical about some jobs being lost forever.
“People always need things and to me there is no reason to think that just because some companies cut jobs, that doesn’t mean all of them will,” Murdock said.
According to the same CBC report, the fields with the highest disappearance rate of jobs permanently lost are in manufacturing, petroleum, automobile production and mining.
