The American Work Pattern May Be Changing
By Courtney Lindberg
Change is the name of the game. It seems as if almost every facet of society is changing, some for better, some for worse. Today though, we will keep those subjects minimized to business only.
Numbers show that while the majority of employers are understaffed and can’t find workers, the amount of EIN’s applied for are soaring. (An EIN is a tax record that must be filed by everyone entering into business.)
People are still working. They’ve just decided to work for themselves. Perhaps, because of stimulus, some had the extra funds for the first time to attempt entrepreneurship. Perhaps, some were dropped by the employers with no remorse or sympathy and said “Enough is enough.”
Author of Generations Neil Howe would say we are in a “fourth turning.” After reading his work, I would agree. We are indeed in the cycle of crisis and in this place many will find themselves in a make or break scenario, adapt or die.
I will forego how nefarious parties are taking full advantage of this positioning to achieve their own dark means. It will take prayer and great discernment at times to know when and how this is happening.
In the mid to late 1800s, we saw the transition of our society into industrialization. Droves of self-employed Americans, many of whom were small farmers, left the insecurity and risk of self-employment and entered into the companies that would come to dominate the times.
What followed was the birth of a working class, which would ultimately become the middle class, the bourgeoisie, something that may have happened in many places around the world, but is definably American in nature.
The ability for one to increase his standard of living through hard work is how the American Dream was born. Earlier, one either was born into wealth and power, or wasn’t and getting ahead was incredibly unlikely.
Financial security certainly increased, but so did hours spent working. A farmer had seasons of long, hard days, and then seasons of much more restful days. As industrial labor, you clocked in five days, sometimes six, a week and you worked 8-10-hour days. Every week. All year.
But the machine was ever pushed and redesigned for efficiency, to get as much as possible in as little as time. This included people. Suck them dry.
Not all industries were tyrannical, but the big players got a lot of attention, of course, when they were. Not much has changed.
Entire towns were created by a single company. How incredible it would be as an entrepreneur to be able to employ so many families and support an entire town.
And how dangerous, as we learned, when that business was overcome by rivals, made old by new technology, or bought by the competition and shut down. Now, how many families were financially ruined in a single day? Great power is great responsibility.
The workforce began to unite, to form unions and strike. It’s not always easy to know if I would have sided with the employer or the employee when you read all the details.
But let’s get to the point; power and wealth.
Our present day is not the first time we’ve had the biggest business owners in the country play puppet master with our governments, its laws and the media.
A single businessman, J.P. Morgan, once bailed out the entire U.S. economy. But if there was once a time when droves of people entered the corporate workforce, then there is a time where droves will leave it.
I believe that is where we are headed.
The workers are going back to farming. There is a current trend of the workforce leaving corporate careers and moving to the country to live off the land. You don’t have to be on Youtube for very long to see examples of this.
But there are many who have become quite comfortable and familiar with the securities of employment; predictable income, benefits and someone else to do the things you don’t want to do.
So, what does the future look like for employers? For towns with higher percentages of self-employed citizens? Where are the opportunities for both? The risks? The rewards?
The change is already happening and, like the Industrial Revolution, I believe it will affect every sector, every mountain of society. That means we have tremendous opportunities before us.
It is my goal to continue to help entrepreneurs into those endeavors they so feel called and help those already established grow and develop. I believe more, smaller businesses are the key to a community’s economic success, camaraderie and sustainability.
To say the least, we are in exciting times. I suppose the question is just who is it going to be exciting for?
Godspeed to you all.
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