Talk:Post-industrial economy/Archives/2011

High unemployment

Currently the article says: A common trait that these economies have are high unemployment.

I realise this statement is commonly made, but I don't think it bears close analysis. It is an idea that seems to be based on outdated theory.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_unemployment_rate

The countries with high unemployment are in Africa (Cameroon, South Africa, Libya), the former Soviet Union (Turkmenistan, Kyrgystan), former Yugoslavia (Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herz), the middle-east (Yemen, Iran, Lebanon) and various countries in Asia and the Pacific (Indonesia, Nepal). Even the fast developing India has 7.80%.

The post-industrial economies mainly have low unemployment levels: Australia 4.3%, UK 5.4%, USA 4.8%, Ireland 4.3%, New Zealand 3.8%, Canada 5.9%. The post-industrial nations lie in the "bottom third" of the table ranking unemployment. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ordinary Person (talk • contribs) 04:24, 14 December 2007 (UTC) Ordinary Person (talk) 04:39, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

Removed paragraphs

I've removed these two paragraphs:

The problem with a service-based economy is the nations over time experience a long term trade deficit which degrades the economy. A common trait that these economies have are high unemployment and high wages. This is because as more manufacturing jobs move to developing nations, more jobs are lost. The people that lost these jobs tend to feel that they are entitled to the high wage they previously earned and have difficulty finding suitable employment.

One way some nations deal with this economic slowdown is by borrowing more money and lowering interest rates. This artificially fixes the problem by creating false wealth. This also causes the affordable housing to disappear because of lower interest rates more expensive homes become more affordable. After interest rates rise to normal levels it is found that the artificially high property values are incorrect. This is what is referred to as a real estate bubble

Economies that have a large service sector DO NOT necessarily have a trade deficit. For example, the United Kingdom is a net exporter of services and has a trade SURPLUS in this sector. See for example: http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/quarterlybulletin/service.pdf

The second paragraph makes no sense at all, since it assumes that a service economy represents an economic slowdown, when in fact it does not. It's quite possible to have a booming economy based on services alone. Rubisco (talk) 15:21, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

I notice the above comment was dated just before the banking crash of 2008. I suppose it reflects an economists point of view, as always throwing out the baby with the bath water. Advanced economies are still industrial, but modern manufacturing depends heavily on automation, rather than the sweatshop paradigm of the modern economics text book. High levels of production are achieved with minimal human input. As technology advances, this trend should be expected to continue until everything is hand built by robots. The issue then becomes how to deploy the redundant labour? With no human employment, who will buy the products? Come on you clever guys find a way to square that particular circle. Gordon Vigurs (talk) 13:19, 26 September 2011 (UTC)