Employment

I was walking home, from whatever it is I do during part of the day, and I got stopped by one of the many people asking for money for a particular cause.  He liked my shirt, with its picture of the solar system according to Kepler, or something.  The conversation, approximately:
"Nice shirt, is that the solar system?"
"Something like that."
"Are you part of the solar system?"
"I guess so."
"What do you do?"
"I'm unemployed."
"That's OK.  What did you do before?"
"I was a physicist."
"Cool, I studied audio engineering.  Sort of the same."
"Sort of."
"Would you like to sponsor [organization, with some details and cost]?"
"Not today."

And, I got to thinking, it is really not OK that I (along with some other, similarly skilled/educated people) am unemployed.  This is a huge failure of the market to manage resources properly.  I spend a decent fraction of my time searching for jobs, sending out CVs, e-mailing people, and that time could be spent being productive.  It is not like I have no education, no skills, or that my skills are valueless (well, maybe they are).  It is not like my past employment misrepresents my skills and education.  In fact, my history should show that I am highly competent, a good thinker, able to work through projects - and I say this as someone with a generally low sense of self worth. 


Maybe I am being too picky.  (Unlikely, since I have applied for adjunct teaching positions, postdoctoral researcher positions, staff positions - it is true that I would rather stay in science/research/academia than in, say, what is generally referred to as the "service industry," but if someone with my education level is relegated to that then it is also a giant systemic failure. 

Don't we want more people who create knowledge and technology?  Isn't that supposed to be the future economy in the US, the post-industrial, post-manufacturing economy?  Or does that refer solely to high-level computer programming and creation of new companies to do things like order pizza for you?  (An aside, this has been sort of mentioned articles in various places, the new app economy basically is meeting the needs of privileged, frugal 20-something males with disposable income.  Most other demographics are being left behind.  The new apps are all simply middlemen, taking their cut of the inflated cost, as well.  Often such apps are free, but the price must be felt somewhere else in the economy, such as lack of investment in other industries and increased prices for goods that are advertised online.  The increased cost to an individual is often small, since the true cost is spread over the internet-using population.)

Employment is a huge problem in the US right now, especially for younger (under age 35, as of mid-2014) people.  The lost production related to this is probably huge (though there's really no way of knowing).  Vague, ageist statements about the work ethic of younger people really don't help.  Job hunting is exhausting, frustrating, and somewhat humiliating.  Not good emotions to instill in a generation.