Are Knowledge Workers The New Working Poor?
from the life-in-the-knowledge-world dept
Richard Samson writes in with a link to his own story asking if knowledge workers are the new “working poor”, and has set up a “straw poll.,” asking others to chime in. Samson is the same guy who last week decided that automation wasn’t a catchy enough term and had to rename it off-peopling. Seeing as he’s trying to pitch his think tank, it probably helps to have a catchy name for things. The problem, in reading over his “working poor” article is that it’s based on nothing other than a few anecdotes — and taking a “straw poll” doesn’t change that. There’s no actual evidence. If anything, perhaps he’s projecting his own experience as a knowledge worker having trouble getting his “off-peopling” business off the ground. Samson is asking some important questions, but it seems like he has the answers that he wants already in his head, and is looking just for evidence to support it.
Comments on “Are Knowledge Workers The New Working Poor?”
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Off-Peopling is a stupid name.
Off shore is almost as stupid. What, do these people in India work out in the water? DUH!
Low social status
Being an IT worker doesn’t carry the same respect among the general public as does being a businessman, lawyer, or doctor. IT workers are on par with nurses or firefighters on the respect scale. IT workers have the lowest job security compared to all of the above, too. A nurse with a community college degree has job security at $80k/yr and can set her own hours, while an IT worker’s salary is as low as $30k, and the job offerings vary wildly from year to year.