What can you do about the coming jobs war?

A couple weeks ago I finished Jim Clifton’s The Coming Job War (http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Jobs-War-Jim-Clifton/dp/1595620559). Clifton is chairman and CEO of the Gallup Association and this work is the product of studying the data from and surveying thousands of people from Manhattan socialites to Masai mothers, in 150 countries of the world. Clifton writes, “Six years into our global data collection effort, we may have already found the single most searing, clarifying, helpful, world-altering fact.

What the whole world wants is a good job.

Clifton writes, “A good job is a job with a paycheck from an employer and steady work that averages 30+ hours / week.” (This is distinguished from, what I suspect the readers of this blog have—a great job. A great job is a job where someone is concerned about your development and you get to engage in meaningful work.) It’s not part-time selling chickens for your brother-in-law. Something fundamentally has changed in the thinking of people. “Humans used to desire love, money, food, shelter, safety, peace, and freedom more than anything else. The last 30 years have changed us. Now people want to have a good job, and they want their children to have a good job. This changes everything for world leaders…The desire for a good job is the current will of the world, and whether or not you have a good job defines your relationship with your city, your country, and the whole world around you.”

So what can we do? Most every church has businessmen and business women whom are usually seen as candidates to serve on the building committee, the finance committee, or the stewardship committee. What if…what if… one of your church’s goals was collectively to create 10 new sustainable jobs in 2012…as part of your God-given mission? What if businessmen and businesswomen were released and empowered to execute that which they do best—create jobs? Not church jobs…but real good jobs. After all, the second command given in Genesis was related to work. Part of the creation mandate is to work. If some business folks were thinking about laying off two employees; what if they were challenged to create two new jobs instead. What would have to happen in the growth of that business to make that financially feasible?

Could you convene a meeting of business owners and randomly connect them to see if new business ideas might emerge? So pairing the owner of a plumbing business with the owner of a optical company; a restaurant owner might be paired with the owner of a storage company; a flooring company owner could be paired with a dentist. What new job ideas might emerge. (Think of Gutenberg combining the technology of the winepress with his expertise as a metallurgist to create the printing press.) Innovation happens in the space of unlikely connections (See Steve Johnson’s Where Good Ideas Come From — http://www.amazon.com/Where-Good-Ideas-Come-Innovation/dp/1594485380/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321122653&sr=1-1-spell)

There are three sectors of every society: Public—government, Private—business, and Social—churches, human services, and non-profits. It’s important to remember that the Private sector funds both the Public and Social sectors.  The vibrancy of any community rests with the vibrancy of the Private sector.

I’ve been thinking lately that we don’t need more nonprofits…or Christian non-profits that create more dependency when what the world craves is a good job. If your church or a wealthy individual in church had $250K to invest in your community, would the community not be better off if it was invested in creating sustainable, tax-generating, charity-donating jobs? Would a challenge like this ignite the passions of the business domain in your church?

Here are a few tweetable excerpts from the book:

“There are currently only 1.2b good jobs…a global shortfall of 1.8b good jobs

“The lack of good jobs will become the root cause of almost all world problems:

“Being out of work, for 18 months or more—is about the worst life you can have, anywhere in the world.”

“All leaders—presidents, parents prists, pastors, imams, teacher and CEOs need to consider jobs in all they do”

Humans used to desire love, money, food, shelter, safety, peace, etc. Now people want to have a good job”

“A question for leaders: ‘Why is knowing that the whole world wants a good job everything to me?’”

“Leaders must realize that every decision they make should consider the impact first and foremost, on good jobs”

“America’s most pressing problem according to Gallup, is a lack of good jobs”

“The country doesn’t have enough good, full-time jobs for people who want to work” #thecomingjobswar