Solving the unemployment issue, bringing those numbers down

“The US unemployment rate rose to 9.8% in September, the highest since June 1983.” (Sat.’s issue of the Free Press)

(Not that it matters, but in June 1983 I was wearing black rim glasses and polyester pants and writing report cards at my desk while students were watching a 16mm film about how great the Great Lakes were before man messed them up).

Here in SW Ontario our numbers are worse. Windsor 15.9%. London 11.1%.

Also from the newspaper report:

“The report underscores one of the biggest threats to the nascent economic recovery: that consumers, worried about job losses and stagnant wages, will restrain spending.”

News flash - US consumers will restrain spending. A ‘spend less, pay off debt’ mantra may become permanent. The numbers are in on that one.

And in all of this manmade turmoil people will still require jobs.


["Sure, it looks harmless and easy to open now. But wait."]

Where will they come from?

Put your thinking caps on, because if we rely on a ‘business as usual’ model or ‘the same old, same old’ (i.e. more cars, big houses, stainless steel kitchens all ‘round, leather furniture, more electric appliances) we’ll just be chasing our tail - a fruitless pursuit if I ever saw one.

Here is one green job that springs to mind that has positive environmental payoffs and well-mannered employees could start tomorrow.

Because more people are using fewer plastic bags that cost a nickel or dime (and have actually learned how to carry a few reusable bags, a habit most North Americans felt was just plain stupid a few years ago), I think we’re ready to pay a nickel or dime to have someone remove a lot of useless packaging from our purchases while we wait for a few extra minutes just inside the door of our favourite big box store.

(I was going to write 'nearest big box store' but that would just be silly, what with the SUV all gassed up and ready to roll).

Think about it. You wait a few minutes to save time and money farther down the line. I.e., you won’t have to wrestle a new toy to the ground before handing it to Junior and you won’t have to trot a tonne and a half of plastic and cardboard out to your blue box every year.

Okay, it might not be a tonne and a half, but the wait, the nickel or dime, would be worth it.

And a few more people would be employed in stores across the land.

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Would you wait 5 minutes to save 10? Pay five cents toward another person’s salary?

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