From Tim Taylor:
“Between 2000 and 2010, there was a 67 percent increase in home-based work for employees of private companies. Although still underrepresented among homebased workers, the largest increase in home-based work during this decade was among government workers, increasing 133 percent among state government workers and 88 percent among federal government workers.”
I have this scary imagine on my head that the increase has been among the government workers who actually “need” to be at their locations – like DMV clerks. In any case, be wary of reading too much into the numbers – you necessarily see large percentage changes when we start at a small base.
Sounds like an extension of union “no-show” jobs.
1. I met a guy a few years ago who owns a “lights off” factory “manned” by machines that produces parts that drop into barrels. His son runs the machines from his home computer. Periodically, the lights come on and the shipping department comes alive to send the contents of the barrels to customers. “E”nvironmentalists should approve of his energy savings, not just for the lights being off, but also for fewer workers having to drive to the factory, and the fair traders should be happy that no jobs were shipped to China.
2. To some, “creating a job” means putting someone on a payroll, no matter what is being done. All that matters is aggregate demand, not whether anything useful results.
Today evidently one does not have to show up to dig a hole and fill it up; one can do that now with an avatar. With wireless technology the task can be done in a bass boat, assuming one does not smear bait on the IPad.