Thoughts on income, careers, jobs, and gigs...
I recently heard that we are moving into a gig-based economy, in the sense that people are getting paid for completing a series of short projects.
In the tech industry, this would be akin to developing a computer program that fulfills one need, then moving on to complete a different computer program for a second set of possibly wildly different needs, and so on. You could also be a festival rat, volunteering at multiple festivals throughout the year, with each one only lasting up to a week. There's also the Favor/Uber model, where you are paid by delivering x, and only paid by the delivery, not by the time that you're on the clock.. or even commission sales..?
So, there's this sense that a job is not a continuous activity, but rather a series of short activities with various lengths of down time between them. The employer model then turns into "we will only pay you when your skills are needed", and you then become responsible for budgeting your money to last through the periods of down time.
Now, some jobs still require a more continuous type of activity. K-12 teachers are basically asked to watch over children while we work, emergency services are paid to protect life and property, people have to gather and prepare food, and some folks are asked to watch over the stores where stuff is sold. Yes, I know that this is a gross over-simplification. I also realize that even these jobs are not asked of individuals 24/7/365...
We could also look at how expertise influences income and careers. Basically, if you can find a niche in the economy that's not easily filled by anyone else - like being a brain surgeon, or being a computer programmer in the 80's and 90's, - then you hopefully have secured a demand for your skills, and will be paid well for it.
Usually, it is not the same person paying you for the rest of your life, but rather great multitudes that come to you for your great knowledge. Since there are so few brain surgeons, parents push their children to become brain surgeons so as to secure a non-competitive income. Except... it's really difficult to become a brain surgeon, and that's probably why there's so few of them to begin with. (Not so much, anymore, with computer programming - and, ironically, we are reaching the point where computers can be taught to be brain surgeons)
An often overlooked part of the ecological niche idea is that skilled trades are just as well paid, but usually not as difficult to acquire. They usually have less appeal, though, due to the physical demands of their work, or health risks? (Like carpenters and mechanics and policemen and garbagemen and...) It's possible they are paid slightly less, because there are more people working in that trade? Although I would think this would be like forgetting about the nurses when you're talking about the brain surgeons, while simultaneously forgetting about the master carpenters while talking about their apprentices.
So... recap. Most jobs are really paying by the gig, and careers with more specialized skill sets reduce their workforce and thereby increase the number of people each specialist needs to serve.
Now, there are other ways of making money that often are not talked about. One that immediately comes to mind is property - we can rent or sale the "things we own" like land or tools, and thereby earn money through those things instead of through our individual person's presence.
I'm thinking another income stream comes through insurance and interest ideas. We pay part of a cost of something that may or may not happen, over a length of time; to defray the cost should it actually happen (insurance) - so the insurance agent actually has use of a pool of money until said event happens. Or... we can not pay all of the costs up front, so we pay a little extra to a lending institution in order to better secure their trust that we will pay everything after an extended time (interest)
However, who is it that really determines the intrinsic value of a good or service? (Well, I guess that treads into economics) Why is it that Uber and Lyft can jack up prices during high traffic periods (fixed supply but increased demand, right?) ? Why is that a cashier with 10 years of experience could demand more wages than an entry-level one (supposedly, because they have less need for training)? Why is it that rent in a metropolitan area is higher than that in a rural one (less goods and services available in the latter?)?
I'm probably drifting, now...
The thought that got me wondering about all this;
"Is my skill set limited, and no longer in demand?"