Productivity

I spend too much time writing.

This was in response to someone regarding productivity and the wage gap.  Enjoy.

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I'm aware the plural of anecdote is not evidence, and this would piss off a lot of people, but I have a theory I believe I can logically support based on what I've seen and experienced.  We're not actually more productive.  Yes, materially, we have way more stuff than before, and far simpler methods of acquiring said stuff.  But we, the people, are not advancing that productivity like we used to.

In any given field besides code-monkeying, you have to be stellar to get a decent-paying job.

I argue that the shifts in distribution of the current pie (which I agree concentrate near the top earners) are due to differences in productivity of individual workers: a few who work themselves to the bone innovating and coming up with new stuff; and the vast majority of average joes who are satisfied getting by with the bare minimum productivity.

I do not say effort.  I’m well aware there are individuals working round-the-clock at three jobs to make ends meet.  I contend the scarce resource of their time could be applied to alternative, more productive uses.

Look at the way we spend our time online: games, commenting, video streaming, Instagram, adult content.  And with the miracles of Wi-Fi and smart phones, it’s all in the palms of our hands.  Mobile, inexpensive, and virtually limitless.  And everyone’s got access to it all.

I have invested thousands of hours and dollars into video games over the course of my lifetime.  I have not received zero return on that investment, no, but it does not compare to the productivity I could have generated if I had used those resources in nearly any other way.  What wealth have I actually produced?  What more could I have produced instead?  What process have I made more efficient?  What product have I invented that did not exist previously?

At the mine, what do I do to earn my paycheck, to increase wealth for the corporation, to increase my own compensation?  Why don’t I study some of the blastholes getting sent to the leach pads, to determine what effect acid-consuming material has on the acid-leaching process, and come up with a solution that reduces the cost of our process?  Why don’t I study the fuel efficiency of our haul trucks, and what speed is ideal for haulage costs, to save time and money on refueling?  I don’t.  But I could and I should.

I use myself as an example to show I’m part of the problem I’m diagnosing.

I’d love to find out what the range of college degrees are today, what percentage are in the hard sciences and engineering, what percentage are in the trades like plumbing and electrician work, and what percentage are in “_____ Studies.”  I’d love to compare those percentages today with those from the 1950’s.  Not to say those last degrees are unimportant, but they do not create the same amount of wealth that other majors do.  In other words, they are not as productive.

My point is you have to look at this stuff specifically, on an individual level.  The general trends are imperative, yes, but there are hundreds of millions of factors feeding that result, many of which could be harboring (hiding) a necessary (if insufficient) cause.