How to Create a Job

Posted on June 13, 2011 2 Comments

The topic of job creation has been a hot one in our apartment lately. As you know, B recently graduated from law school and passed the Illinois Bar Exam. Now that the celebrations are over (and trust me, they were awesome celebrations), the real work of finding work has begun. For those of you who are not currently out there lawyering or unfamiliar with the job market for attorneys, let’s just say the job market sucks so bad the New York Times recently questioned whether law school itself is actually a big scam.

But I’m not here to complain about the job market for lawyers in Chicago. Instead, today I’m sharing a fascinating episode of This American Life that asks: In this economy, how you create a job? If you have the time, listen to the episode. It will change the way you hear your local (and national) politicians when they talk about job creation. Indeed, today as I was telling B about the episode, no less than three politicians appeared on TV talking about job creation during our local newscast. Unfortunately, as you’ll learn, it’s much easier to SAY you’ll create a job than to actually create one.

Which brings me to another point. Every summer here, when the weather goes up, the crime rate goes up. However, this year, the acts seem a little more coordinated, a little more frequent, a little more desperate. In fact, last weekend on the block where I currently work, just one building away, a “mob” of teenagers attacked and mugged several people in the middle of the day. Sure, this stuff happens all the time in city — but in broad daylight? In a heavily policed area? A group of 15 to 20 teens committing random acts of violence?  And according to all accounts, this particular type of coordinated activity – the media are calling it mob action – is taking place all around my work neighborhood as teens text each other with smartphones to set up the “hit,” then disappear.

While the city is rushing to move more police officers from desk jobs to the streets, I question whether jobs creation plays into this matter too. I don’t have the stats, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that these high-profile incidents are happening as teens, young adults, and recent graduates struggle to get summer jobs and as schools cut budgets for summer and after-school programming. I know jobs creation is difficult, but we can’t give up on the cause, we can’t give up on our young adults. Too much is at stake.

Category: Life
   Tags: economy

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