Labor Day – The Reinvention of Work in America
It’s Labor Day, a time for barbecues, saying good bye to Summer, and taking a day of rest honoring the American worker. Yet, there is a different feel out there this Labor Day, as we are struck with a country living with it’s highest unemployment rate in decades, still at war in far off lands, and a population generally running scared. Today’s worker, if he is lucky enough to have a job, is usually performing the tasks that in the past a company may have hired three people to accomplish. The laborer doesn’t complain, however, because being employed in America today is often considered a coup.
Support groups are springing up for the unemployed, and especially for the older unemployed. I’ve known men to dye their hair not out of vanity, but because they did not want the gray to reveal how much older they were than their bosses, in an attempt to preserve a youthful and thereby “useful” look.
Massive empires, corporations that were household names disappeared overnight. The old guard advice of getting a good education, work hard, save for retirement and you will do well just isn’t cutting it any longer.
It’s time to reinvent earning income in America. Notice, I did not say “employment.” While on the one hand, we are a more global economy than ever before we are returning to our agrarian roots. Yet, we are not farmers planting corn. Most of us would not know how to nurture a tomato plant if our lives depended on it. But in the these times, the farmer is going to survive and thrive – not the traditional farmer, I use the term loosely. The individual who understands they are working for themselves now, independent of a company to support them, and bringing their “crops” to market will have the ultimate advantage.
In the past, that market was maybe miles away, and the day set for all farmers to bring their crops to a central location for sale. Today, the day is not set, but there is a central location and the crops are sold worldwide without the farmer leaving his home. The new economy is on the Internet. While that may frighten some, those unwilling to change and adapt have never survived. You may “work” in the same town, but you may be paid for your production by someone living on another continent.
As a member of the Baby Boomer generation, I am well aware of how this frightens so many who learned only to use computers in their offices to produce documents or check emails. Yet, the learning curve is not as high as many project and the rewards can be a bountiful harvest. Especially for the older worker, still reeling from the losses suffered in their 401(k) plans upon which they were totally dependent, this might not initially come as great news. But for the average person and the home-bound disabled person, the economic outlook has actually never been better.
No, I did not drink the Kool Aid – I’ve watched and learned from my own experience. There are a new set of skills one must learn, but they do not take an Einstein to learn them and they do not take 4 years. It is time for the American ingenuity to come into play and there is a chance for every individual to thrive.
More millionaires are made during recessions and depressions than at any time in history. It has been done before, and it will be done again. The question is – are you willing to stretch outside your comfort zone (which really isn’t very comfortable any longer) and do it? The entire world is your “employer” now – it’s time to roll up our sleeves and get to work.
After, the barbecue, of course.
