It worries that it is necessary for us to point out the most basic facts of economic life to people. Surely public policy can be worked upon by those even vaguely economically literate? But it appears not. From the TUC we get this nonsense, they forgetting - or even not knowing - that jobs are a cost, not a benefit:
The report released by the TUC, a federation representing 48 unions, argues for a radical increase in investment – calling for £18bn more a year to be spent on operating trains, trams and buses to help cut car use by 20%, improve quality of life and boost the UK economy.
That boost to the economy from the report:
Additional operating expenditure by 2030 of around £7.5bn per year for buses, £0.5bn per year for trams and £10.9bn per year for trains, to provide public transport services good enough to attract the necessary extra passengers.
…..
5. In addition to giving us public transport fit to tackle the climate emergency these
investments would bring major economic and social benefits:
a. Around 140,000 direct jobs in bus, tram and rail operation created by the uplift
in public transport services (a new job for every two existing jobs).
b. Around 620,000 jobs created through the proposed bus manufacture and
construction of bus priority infrastructure up to 2035.
c. Around 110,000 jobs associated with tram construction up to 2035.
d. Up to 1.8 million jobs supported indirectly in association with the additional rail
investment up to 2035, although not all of these would be ‘new’ jobs.
That’s 890,000 new jobs, plus 1.8 million indirectly. And all for only £7.5 billion a year.
So, now, think for a little bit. The major complaint about the British economy these days is a shortage of workers. We’re supposed to raise the pension age to gain more workers. Stop taxing pension pots so much in order to gain more workers. Some go far enough to suggest we should subject ourselves again to the Tyranny of Brussels in order to gain more workers. It’s been standard to call for years for higher labour productivity - being able to make more things with fewer workers.
Then along comes this bright idea that we should deliberately tax ourselves £7.5 billion a year for the benefit of needing 2.6, perhaps 2.7, million workers? About 10% of the entire labour force of the combined countries that make up the UK? We’re to deliberately engineer the need for much more of what we’ve not got enough of?
It would be polite to call this merely insane.
The mistake here, and it’s one of those doozies of complete economic ignorance, is to fail to realise that jobs are a cost. A job is a cost of getting the thing done. We no more want to create jobs than we do to increase the costs of doing something therefore.
Think through what happens here. The UK workforce is 100% employed - close enough at least. So, we’re to divert 10% of that to building trams. That means we’ve got to give up 10% of everything else so that we can have the trams. The cost of the trams is the ballet, NHS, teaching, home care, vibrant arts system, windmills, nuclear fusion and everything else we don’t get because an entire 10% of the workforce is off building trams. And we’re only going to charge ourselves that £7.5 billion in operating subsidies to be made that 10% poorer.
Well, we suppose it beats most Modern Monetary Theory but other than that it seems to have little to recommend it.
The idea of an organisation which fights for the workers is just fine. But is it really asking too much that the people running it be competent? Have the first grasp of the subjects they intend to opine upon?
Jobs are a cost, not a benefit. Those not grasping that are not competent and do not have the first grasp.