pkpatriotic
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For decades, it was the same comfortable story in much of Western Europe. Most of the population had jobs, jobs that they could take for granted for all of their working lives. They took long vacations, didnt work too many hours and were generally happy. The minority who couldnt get jobs, well, no one worried too much about them. But that may have to change.
As Carter Dougherty and Katrin Bennhold write, the middle classes in France, Germany and Italy are feeling the squeeze of rising prices - and theyre not happy. Their incomes havent necessarily kept pace, primarily because growth in those economies has been slow for many years. If youre looking for a deeper reason, though, perhaps it would be worth thinking a little about incentives.
When job security is virtually guaranteed, neither the employed nor the unemployed have much of a reason to be go-getters. The employed cant be fired, and the unemployed can never be hired. They both receive either a nice salary or a nice benefit to keep them quiet. Remove a little job security and give the unemployed a chance to compete in the labor force, and things might change. The economy might grow faster. More people might get jobs. And almost everyone might even be better off - if a little more tired. Is it worth the change? At long last, the answer may be yes.
As Carter Dougherty and Katrin Bennhold write, the middle classes in France, Germany and Italy are feeling the squeeze of rising prices - and theyre not happy. Their incomes havent necessarily kept pace, primarily because growth in those economies has been slow for many years. If youre looking for a deeper reason, though, perhaps it would be worth thinking a little about incentives.
When job security is virtually guaranteed, neither the employed nor the unemployed have much of a reason to be go-getters. The employed cant be fired, and the unemployed can never be hired. They both receive either a nice salary or a nice benefit to keep them quiet. Remove a little job security and give the unemployed a chance to compete in the labor force, and things might change. The economy might grow faster. More people might get jobs. And almost everyone might even be better off - if a little more tired. Is it worth the change? At long last, the answer may be yes.
