In a world where money is essential for survival, earning it can be surprisingly difficult. Many people today, even those with bachelor’s or master’s degrees, often find themselves working in positions that are vastly underwhelming, such as fast-food restaurants or retail jobs. This phenomenon raises the question: why is it so difficult to make money, even with the “right” qualifications?
The Traditional Job Route: A Tightening Market
The traditional method of earning money typically involves securing a job with a company. However, today’s job market is more competitive than ever, and job security is becoming a luxury. Many degree-holders who enter the workforce with high hopes quickly find that their qualifications don’t guarantee the kind of jobs they were aiming for. Instead, they may end up working jobs well below their skill level, often earning minimum wage, just to make ends meet.
There are several reasons for this:
- Market Saturation: The sheer number of graduates has created a glut in the job market, leading to fierce competition for even entry-level positions.
- Degree Devaluation: As more people earn higher degrees, their value in the marketplace decreases, forcing many to take jobs that don’t align with their education.
- Automation and Outsourcing: Companies increasingly rely on automation and outsourcing to cut costs, reducing the number of high-paying jobs available in various sectors.
Untraditional Methods: Entrepreneurship and Freelancing
As traditional jobs become harder to find or less rewarding, many people turn to untraditional methods of making money, such as entrepreneurship or freelancing. However, this route is also fraught with challenges.
Entrepreneurship is often seen as a glamorous pursuit, with success stories of people building empires from scratch. However, the reality is far different for most aspiring entrepreneurs:
- The Odds Are Stacked Against You: Statistically, most startups fail within the first five years, meaning that entrepreneurs face a high likelihood of losing their initial investments and gaining little to no income in return.
- Public Perception: Entrepreneurship is often misunderstood, with many viewing it as a “laughing stock” or something only the unemployed pursue. There is still a significant stigma attached to it, where individuals are not seen as successful unless they can achieve overnight success, which is incredibly rare.
- Financial Instability: Unlike a salaried job, entrepreneurship doesn’t guarantee income, and many business owners find themselves working for years without making a profit. They may gain invaluable skills along the way, but skills alone don’t pay the bills.
Freelancing and gig economy jobs are another popular untraditional route, but these too come with their own set of obstacles. Freelancers often struggle with inconsistent work, fluctuating income, and a lack of benefits like health insurance or retirement plans. They essentially trade stability for autonomy, which can be a tough compromise for those seeking financial security.
Why Is Earning Money So Difficult?
There are systemic reasons behind why earning money, whether through traditional or non-traditional means, is so difficult. Some of the factors include:
- The Wealth Gap: As wealth continues to concentrate in the hands of a few, economic mobility becomes harder for the rest of the population.
- Cost of Living vs. Wages: While the cost of living, especially in major cities, has skyrocketed, wages have largely remained stagnant. This means people are working harder but not necessarily seeing more in their paychecks.
- Economic Instability: Global economic crises, inflation, and a constantly shifting market make it difficult to predict financial outcomes, even for those who are highly skilled or educated.
Changing the System: How Can It Be Fixed?
In our current system, several solutions can be implemented to address economic inequality and make earning money more attainable for everyone:
Reskilling Programs: As traditional jobs are lost to automation, reskilling programs are critical. These programs can help workers transition into growing industries such as technology, green energy, or healthcare, ensuring they're equipped for the modern economy.
Reforming Wealth Distribution: Income inequality can be addressed by policies such as higher taxes on the ultra-wealthy, corporate profit-sharing, or implementing a maximum wage. These measures would distribute wealth more fairly across society, preventing extreme disparities.
Cooperative Ownership Models: Encouraging companies to adopt worker-owned business models could allow employees to have a say in decision-making and receive a share of profits, leading to a more equitable economy. This model, though within a capitalist framework, moves towards decentralizing wealth and power.
Public Investment in Innovation: Governments can stimulate job creation by investing in sectors that provide sustainable and long-term employment opportunities. This investment can focus on critical areas such as renewable energy, infrastructure, and research, thus creating jobs that benefit society as a whole.
Post-Capitalistic Approaches: Rethinking the System
Beyond fixing what already exists, it may be time to fundamentally rethink how our economic system operates. Here are some post-capitalistic ideas for creating a more just and equitable society:
Resource-Based Economy: This system would prioritize access to resources, rather than profit, as the key to prosperity. Instead of using money, the allocation of goods and services would be based on need and sustainability, eradicating poverty and wealth disparities. By removing the money barrier, humanity could focus on optimizing resources and technology for everyone’s benefit.
Universal Basic Resources (UBR): While UBI provides money, UBR would provide direct access to essential resources—such as food, housing, healthcare, and education. By ensuring these needs are met for all people, the pressure of working purely for survival is removed, allowing people to pursue meaningful, purpose-driven lives.
Decentralized Economies: Implementing local, decentralized economic models—through the use of blockchain or community currency systems—could foster more autonomy and empowerment. These systems would allow communities to generate and exchange value without relying on traditional banking or corporate monopolies.
Radical Redistribution of Resources: Instead of redistributing money, this approach focuses on ensuring that everyone has access to critical resources like land, energy, and technology. Governments or organizations could allocate resources fairly, and they would be considered common goods for society rather than owned by individuals or corporations.
Automation for Collective Good: In a post-capitalist world, automation could work for everyone, not just the wealthy. Rather than fearing job loss, society could embrace automation as a means to reduce work hours and increase leisure time, while the profits generated by automation would be shared collectively.
Conclusion: Bridging the Present and Future
The struggle to make a living in today’s world is a reflection of deeper systemic issues that won’t be solved by quick fixes alone. While reskilling programs, wealth redistribution, and cooperative ownership can alleviate some of the immediate pressures, they only go so far within a capitalist framework that prioritizes profit over people.
True systemic change will require us to rethink the fundamentals of our economic system, imagining a world where resources, not money, are at the core of human prosperity. Post-capitalistic ideas like universal basic resources, decentralized economies, and automation for collective good offer a vision for a future where economic inequality is obsolete and human potential can flourish.
It’s time to embrace both pragmatic solutions and bold, far-reaching innovations. By combining efforts to reform the current system with a willingness to explore post-capitalistic approaches, we can pave the way for a society where making a living is no longer a struggle, but a right accessible to all. The journey ahead is challenging, but the possibilities for change are limitless.