Jobs and technology

Unemployment problems will continue to exist for some time to come. A recent article in the NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/business/unionizing-at-the-low-end-of-the-pay-scale.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=1&) discusses how people are now becoming part of unions to earn a higher salary. Technology is not solving the unemployment problem either; fewer workers are necessary to complete a specific task as computers and machines do the job more efficiently. Some economists argue that unemployment exists because some people are simply unemployable, or do not fill the needs of a company. The solution they propose is to improve the levels of education since one's wages should be equivalent to one's ability and skill. This still does not solve long-term unemployment. The rate at which machine and computer efficiency improves exceeds the rate at which education improves. My guess is that the future will have computers do the jobs of even skilled people. Demand for goods and services will not decline necessarily as the few rich people will demand more of these goods and services equivalent to the rise in their income...Capitalism will create market winners which absorb all competitors...in the end capitalism will become a weird perverted form of communism. Maybe Malthus was right...the world is perhaps over populated, or maybe we are focussing our time and energy on all the wrong labour market strategies. Low skilled labourers should work for companies that require a low skill level. Agriculture is one such industry. I find it odd that governments, especially South Africa, has not redesigned its agricultural programmes. More on this topic later.