Selective Outrage Over Job Losses

[QC]

Of the 2.9 million private-sector jobs that have been lost since 1991, a full 2.56 million are from manufacturing.

Source

Yet which job losses are getting the most attention not only in the press but also here at DU?

Yep. The 12% in white-collar professions. Working stiffs have been watching their jobs get sent elsewhere for decades--remember Roger and Me?--and the general response, even from many Democrats, was, "Gee, that's too bad, but they didn't update their 'skill sets.'" But now that comparatively affluent professionals are having their jobs "offshored," it's an outrage.

What does this say to those millions of manufacturing workers, many of whom have had several jobs yanked out from under them?

People often ask how we can regain the support of blue-collar workers. My hunch is that we'll get them back when we're just as upset over unemployed textile workers as unemployed software engineers.

[MattNC]

1. interesting fact

i knew manufacturing was affected the most, but i didn't know it was so one-sided.

[Sir_Shrek]

2. "Working stiffs have been watching their jobs..."

etc etc etc etc....

There you have it. Manufacturing jobs have been on the decline for years now. It's almost become a fact of life. It doesn't surprise anyone anymore...hence the selective outrage.

[QC]

4. Well, it's become ho hum to the opinion class.

Not to the people who have been getting downsized and outsourced for so many years.

That's part of what I'm trying to get at here--how both the media and even the party bear a class bias that explains why one thing is a crime against humanity and a much bigger thing is just a bore.

[HereSince1628]

3. Clearly liberal media bias...

[QC]

5. Well, I think the real media bias is classist, not ideological.

In other words, I think that both the producers and the primary consumers of (elite) media tend to be fairly affluent professionals, and for that reason they will identify more closely with an unemployed accountant than with an unemployed truck driver.

I think that would explain, among many other things, why there's no meaningful coverage of labor issues in the mainstream media.

[Sugarbleus]

8. BINGO QC!

I've been laying this out in a number of forums for weeks. WHAT ABOUT THE BLUE COLLAR WORKERS and the underclass???????????????????

Haven't heard but barely a hint at the problem from the fab8 running for office. Makes my choice very difficult.

This going offshore and outsourcing thing started in earnest in the 1980's I was there. I saw it coming from the inside but never thought it would get this bad. So, forgive me world if I don't weep for the white collar guys who are apoplectic about the lose of their jobs. We are all in this together now.

[kcwayne]

6. One key difference to consider

is that in prior job loss economies, there were areas one could migrate to to find employment.

When the aerospace industry crashed in the early 70's, engineers and manufacturing workers alike were layed off. There were other industries into which they could go. Electronics was a growth industry that absorbed both engineers and blue collar people.

Same with the oil business crash in the 80's, and the rust belt depression that led to many layed off people migrating to the south where companies were relocating.

The critical difference now is that there is no where for blue collar or white collar people to go. No industry is healthy, and there are no dynamics to create sustainably healthy industries.

Now the pain of losing one's job is apparently permanent, and everyone is scrambling to move down the food chain to find lower and lower wages and benefits, and even those jobs are in danger.

[QC]

7. Very true.

So what do we do, other than become WalMart greeters?

[porkrind]

9. 1 in 7 mfg jobs lost since 2000 !!!!!!!!!!!!

That's ~14% of the US manufacturing jobs lost, and they're not coming back. Also, it's not just low-tech mfg that's being lost, we are exporting our high-tech semiconductor industries overseas. After these are gone, there will be no "Higher-Tech" industries left to jump to.

Looks like Walmart, here we come. :scared:

Would you like paper or plastic? :cry: