Returning to my old school this weekend after almost half a century I got to thinking about the jobs I've have had over that time and what it means for today. In this age of Wal-Mart workers and burger flippers lets look at where the jobs went. Follow me down the rabbit hole.
After high school and a year in college I went to sea in the Merchant Marine. After WWII there were thousands of American ships and almost 250,000 American Seamen. As of 2006 there were just 465 American flagged vessels and just a few thousand seamen. Next I worked for Douglas Aircraft, later to become McDonnell-Douglas Aircraft. In the 60's and 70's Douglas employed almost 100,00 people just in Southern California. Today that number is zero, as in none.
Then I worked for the Long Beach Naval Shipyard. At the time they had around 4,000 people employed. Today, nada. After that I was at an aircraft parts manufacturer with 9,000 employees. Not there anymore. A shopping mall sits where the factory used to be.
A few other places I worked were American Can Company-gone, Hughes Helicopters and Hughes Aircraft, all with tens of thousands of workers- just a faded memory.
All of these jobs were high paying union jobs with benefits such a Healthcare and defined pensions. Try finding one of those today. Good luck. A lot of those jobs went overseas, like when my son-in-law was sent to China for 6 months to teach the Chinese his job, and when he got back they laid him off. The other jobs went poof into the night. They just don't exist anymore. These are just the places I worked at. Many others are gone too. Aerospace alone lost over 200,000 jobs. Then the was the Auto Industry. Ford and GM used to have manufacturing plants here. Not anymore.
Another thing to think about is all these jobs were at a time when the population of California was less than a third of what it is now. I worry about what kind of future my kids and grandkids have to look forward to. I don't have an answer. I wish I did. We all can't be investment bankers or work for The Google. Oh well, like the old Chinese curse says, "May you live in interesting times"
Don't Bug Me While I'm Working -John Haitt