Does your job create real value?

Many Americans no longer understand the results of their labor

Office workers
(Image credit: (Thinkstock))

Back in August, the anthropologist and anarchist David Graeber wrote an article for Strike! Magazine entitled "Bullshit Jobs." Graeber asked why we were still working so hard, despite being so much richer than in ages past. Where was the utopia of leisure that we were promised? He concluded that our economic system has invented pointless make-work jobs that keep us busy and distract us from overthrowing the ruling class.

As you might expect, Graeber's article was thoroughly panned by most of the economists who even paid attention. But Graeber is on to something. Though I heavily doubt that many of our jobs represent a diabolic plot by our overlords to keep us in chains, it seems clear that many Americans no longer understand how their work creates value.

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Noah Smith is an assistant professor of finance at Stony Brook University. He blogs at Noahpinion.