It’s hard to be optimistic if you look at current trends in employment. When new jobs appear they’re more likely to be low paying, low skilled ones, than the other way around. Just a few things that have contributed to this dire situation are globalization, automation, outsourcing, and yes, even robots. Everything on that list has had a crushing impact for millions looking for available work at decent wages.

So, am I writing all this just to depress you? No, quite the opposite. Acknowledging these facts should make you want to look for solutions. One idea that is being flouted as an answer is the “Basic Income.” What is the Basic Income? The main idea is that every living person would get a defined monthly income. That is an oversimplification of the concept, and if you haven’t already, we urge you to check out Dianna Gunn’s wonderful piece on the Basic Income. It clearly and simply explains the different ways the Basic Income would be implemented.

The Basic Income could be a way to repair the social fabric that gets torn when economic forces put people into wildly differing financial circumstances. This week’s clip gives a nice quick look at why it’s being seriously considered by multiple countries. You may be surprised who has endorsed this concept. The video will explain. Enjoy.

Happy New Year. We hope you had a nice break from work and were able to relax and recharge your batteries. We’re glad to be back ourselves. We have some new additions to the site this year we think you’re going to love. Coming soon will be a section devoted to politics in underemployment, video interviews, and the occasional vlogs from some of our regular contributors.

A quick word on our new political section. Government policies play a large part in shaping the economy. In response to this fact, the staff decided to include pieces with a political bent as part of our regular content. We don’t define ourselves as a political site or affiliate ourselves with any political party. The articles will not all lean one way or another politically. What they will be is thoughtful, passionate, and well written. We hope the political section will result in engaged and spirited commentary from our readers.

You may have also noticed our awesome new logo. We debuted it a couple weeks ago without any fanfare, but we want to point out we hired a talented underemployed designer to create it, and she did a fantastic job. We love it, and we hope you do too. If you want to hire her, do it throught this email, hireme@theunderemployedlife.com

A couple of last notes. The Underemployed Life is completely self funded. We pay all of our writers, promote their offsite work, and make sure people know who they are through paid advertising. Because we take in no revenue currently, and we didn’t want to put ads on the site, we decided to launch a merchandise store.

At our store you can get all manners of products with our logo on it. T-shirts, coffee mugs, mouse pads, and a lot of other great things. Any proceeds we get from the merchandise you buy goes directly to the running of the site. We can’t thank you enough for your support. Our quick growth is directly attributable to you, and we sincerely appreciate it.

In 2017 and beyond, The Underemployed Life is committed to bringing stories, interviews, and articles that give you reasons to keep coming back. We’re proud of the work we’ve done, and even more excited for what’s to come. With you in tow, we hope to build a community that expects more from their country than just “a job.”

And in case you thought we forgot, here’s our clip of the week.  Enjoy.

Globally, there’s been a concerted effort to use robots in place of human labor in far too many industries to list. Though automation has replaced workers throughout history, the scale it’s been happening at has never been this massive. There seems to be no end to what robots and automation can do. Ultimately, this means more robots in the workforce and less people.

Just a few questions we think are worth asking: What happens to all the people displaced by automation? What happens to societies that don’t have plans for large numbers of displaced workers? We don’t know the answers to those questions, but we think they’re worth thinking about.

The issues accompanying the replacement of human labor with nonhuman will only get larger and more complex as technology continues to evolve. We thought an overview of the subject was in order, before it’s too late. Things are moving so fast, a robot may soon replace the writers of this site. Bleep blorp indeed.

The breezy three minute plus clip we chose for this week’s column takes a ‘just the facts’ approach. The video looks at several occupations/jobs currently affected by robot replacement, and several others jobs that will soon be impacted. Is your job on their list? Can it be? Will it be? Watch the clip and you may get some answers.

New students graduate every year. We hear a lot about the debt these students are incurring to get their degrees. What we don’t hear as much about is their entry into the workforce, and the struggles they have finding decent, well paying work. A lot of people place the blame on students. Critics say it’s their fault for their poor job prospects, because they didn’t get a degree in a stable field. We think that’s a narrow view.

While some students go to college and get a degree in non traditional fields, many more go and study a discipline they thought was robust with available jobs. However, by the time they graduate, the field they planned to enter with relative ease, is now in shambles.

Just look at what’s happened to the once vaunted law degree. Getting a degree as a lawyer was once seen as a guaranteed ticket to a better life. Today, the field is in steady decline. The only guarantee a law degree will get you now is a gigantic student loan debt.

A rising population and the wholesale reduction of formerly stable jobs is changing the entire landscape of work. It’s happening fast, and is throwing chaos into many new job seekers immediate future. The clip we chose to highlight this fact is a brief trailer for a documentary called Generation Jobless. It talks about all these problems. It’s a Canadian film, but don’t be fooled, it applies to the U.S., Australia, and many other countries.

Outsourcing is the practice wherein a business contracts or subcontracts part or all of its work to another country. This is primarily so the business can reap the benefits of cheaper labor. Outsourcing causes spikes in underemployment everywhere it’s practiced. This is because employees are displaced, jobs become scarcer, and there’s more competition for existing openings.

In anticipation of an article we’re publishing Friday, we’re featuring a clip discussing outsourcing. The video makes the point that outsourcing may have reached a point where the practice is now bad for businesses too. It’s a short and compelling clip. We hope it generates talk amongst our readers on our Community Board.

What is the future of work? Not just in the United States, but in countries around the globe? The world is changing at nearly incomprehensible speeds. Technology has revolutionized entire industries formerly static and unchanging. AirBnB and Uber have wreaked havoc on the hotel and taxi industry. The internet has had devastating effects on brick and mortar industries. Bookstores, travel agents, video stores, and countless other businesses are either now defunct or operating in microscopic numbers.

Underemployment has increased around the world. As we head into a largely unknowable future-one that could be mostly populated by synthetic employees like robots and automation, available jobs are going to dissipate. So what’s going to happen to the bulk of the world’s working population if millions of jobs disappear and no new ones take their place? The following clip looks into this issue, and though it offers no answers, it substantially details the trends that are changing how we work.

Tomorrow, in our Underemployment Around the Globe section, we feature a touching essay from a Canadian citizen about her struggles in the Canadian job market. It’s a wonderful piece about preserving your dignity and self worth in the face of severe underemployment. In preparation for that story, we picked a news report on Canada’s growing underemployment problem for this week’s clip.

The report does an excellent job highlighting the chief reasons Canada is suffering massive underemployment, primarily among its youth. The clip is from 2012, bud sadly, is still relevant. It’s heady stuff, and shows the rising tensions in a country where a large number of young, educated people can’t find skilled or well paying jobs in their field.

There’s nothing fun about job interviews. You can do research on the company. You can read the endless lists spanning across the internet on how to be ready for them. You can watch multiple YouTube videos on the best ways to impress your interviewer. However, until you get into the interview itself, we all know none of that preparation really makes a difference. No matter what you do, your head is still going to be filled with anxious thoughts and endless scenarios on how the interview will actually go.

The truth is, it’s hard to put it all together in a high pressure environment. No one really knows what the interviewer or the company is looking for. It’s all a bit of a guessing game. Guess right, you win a new job. Guess wrong, and your week is free for dressing up like a clown at night.

Given the stress job candidates go through, we thought today’s video would bring happiness and laughter to those of you dealing with an upcoming job interview. The clip is from the movie, Step Brothers, starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. Enjoy the following few minutes, as the titular stars go on different job interviews, and magnificently nail each one.

When students are faced with either paying off their loans or lose their credit standing, they’re liable to take the quickest job available, but not the best job available, which can often take longer. Suffering from massive debt, many students look to relief programs to get them under control. There are programs student loan debtors can take advantage of to reduce their burden. Unfortunately, there are also unscrupulous agencies looking to take advantage of people who want a quick fix to their problems.

The clip we chose today is from a newscast that investigated fraudulent collection agencies targeting holders of student loans. It’s a short clip, but filled with great information on avoiding any of the traps set up by dishonest collectors. If you owe money on your student loan, and are stressed out about it, this 2 minute and 30 second clip is well worth your time. For more information on your rights as a debtor. Check out The Fair Debt Collections Act.

We’re quite fond of Alan Watts around here. Watts often spoke about education and work in ways that were simple, but profound. He questioned the nature and purpose of both work and education, and how they operate in Western society. He did so in a way that was illuminating and easy to comprehend.

Listening to Watts is like hearing a good friend tell you how you need to stop worrying about what people think of you, and just do what you believe is right for you. He questioned the systems that pervade our lives, and often leave us miserable. His philosophies are as fresh and urgent today as they were over 40 years ago when he first said them. That’s why we are featuring him today.

The clip we chose is hypnotic and entrancing. If you’re going through a particularly tough time, we hope this clip hits you in the solar plexus, and wakes you to your life’s open ended possibilities. We all deserve meaningful work.