Creating jobs - before it's too late
Friday, July 16, 2010 at 5:25 PM 
I read an exceptional article this week.
Andy Grove, one of the most famous and successful businessmen of the post-war era (CEO of Intel for 18 years; Time magazine’s man of the year, too many awards to mention), penned a thought-provoking challenge to traditional globalization thinking.
At the core of Grove’s malaise is that the much-referred-to engine of US jobs growth – the start-up company – does not in fact generate a broad range of technical jobs.
Some interesting points from the article:
- There is a rough 1:10 law with US technology companies, meaning their China (manufacturing) workforces are about 10 times larger than their US employee base. Apple has 25,000 in the US; 250,000 in China. Similar numbers for Dell, Seagate Technology, etc.
- The ability to export low-value jobs and retain the majority of the profits in-country may be true – but what about the long-term societal impact? In his words: “…what kind of a society are we going to have if it consists of highly paid people doing high-value-added work -- and masses of unemployed?”
For me, Grove’s most unique point is regarding the connection between ‘low-value’ jobs and future industry innovation and domination. He puts it far more eloquently than me: “…abandoning today’s “commodity” manufacturing can lock you out of tomorrow’s emerging industry. Our fundamental economic beliefs, which we have elevated from a conviction based on observation to an unquestioned truism, is that the free market is the best economic system -- the freer, the better. Our generation has seen the decisive victory of free-market principles over planned economies. So we stick with this belief, largely oblivious to emerging evidence that while free markets beat planned economies, there may be room for a modification that is even better.”
Remember - this isn’t in Socialist Worker’s Weekly, it’s the coverstory of a leading magazine, written by one of the sages of the modern business age. A very well-written article, full of moments to make you pause.
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Image © Todd Wheatland - Blogus Picturas
andy grove, apple, dell, employment, intel, jobs, start-up, work
Reader Comments (2)
That does scare me that 10 years from now only high end jobs will be available causing even more mass employment. All because companies had to sell their soul to China! It's really sad!
This really is a very interesting article, I also followed through to the Business Week website to view the original piece. Thankyou.