Involuntary part-time unemployment has risen by over half a million people since late last year.
The news makes it sound like our economy is falling apart. Employers can’t afford to keep full time employees on the books, so they are cutting back. Instead they are hiring people on short term time frames, as their business needs expand and contract.
Truthfully, this is a sign of efficiency – meaning that businesses must ‘trim the fat’ of employees that receive bloated compensation packages.
US companies have been mandated to pay employees minimum wages, workers compensation, retirement packages and numerous other expensive benefits.
What happens when the company can’t afford to pay for those items?
The company either goes out of business, or they start cutting their losses – which are those full time employees.
But, before this starts to sound like a negative rant on the state of our economy… Let’s actually think about what this means… 
Germany was the first country to offer retirement in 1889. It was the first time an organized system of financial security was created to ensure workers were compensated well after they put in hard work.
Some may say that a retirement system is a sign of a sophisticated and advanced society.
But, considering that the idea of retirement has only around for a little over 100 years, it’s quite an untested program.
Think about history… can you imagine the Romans, Greeks or Egyptians offering retirement?
It’s a very strange idea, if you think about it.
Retirement has made workers dependent on government management of their money… and we all know what happens to money managed by the government.
In turn, many people have not become disciplined to save money and properly prepare for the time when they must hang up their boots and stop going to work.
We have an entire generation of people who have worked hard, but have neglected to take personal responsibility for their finances in their later years.
With the idea that current employers are not going to be giving as generous compensation packages as before, we can assume that the new workforce will need to plan for their own future needs.
Some would argue that this will create a whole new generation of underpaid employees.
I’d argue that we’re going to see a whole new generation of responsible people. People who save their money, don’t go into massive debt, responsibly invest their hard earned cash, and maintain an entrepreneurial mind.
Because if their is always the threat of losing a job, a person must hustle in order to be successful.
So… when you hear that ‘full time employment’ and ‘careers’ are coming to an end, you can actually think of this as a positive step.
This will ensure that people don’t settle into a job where they are guaranteed a steady paycheck – they’ll have to work hard and stay dynamic, just as the people who built America and many other bastions of prosperity throughout the world.
