Government to the rescue

Solving problems of it's own creation 

 

According to Tim Worstall, this is a quote from Richard Murphy, the UK's comedy economist:

There is also only one known solution, as it is clear that the private sector will not create the number of jobs required to engage younger people in the UK in work, and that is for the government to take on that job instead.

I didn't bother to go to Murphs website and find out if this was an actual quote, because my time is worth more to me than that, but it certainly sounds like something he'd say. Why? Because it's totally economically illiterate

 

Firstly, the private sector can't create jobs for young people because it can't afford to do so. Young people with no skills and experience are not worth the cost of the minimum wage and employers national insurance

 

Of course, if young people can't get jobs now, they will eventually become middle aged people with no skills and experience. The government has created an impossible situation where it's too expensive to employ people, so the government must pay benefits, which come from money taken from the private sector in taxes (Simplistic overview, but correct)

 

So according to Murphy, the government must step in and create jobs itself. To correct the problem that it created itself

 

So what jobs will the government create? They don't produce anything, they don't sell anything. The only jobs they can create for young people will be pen pushing public sector trainee management types, who will add no value to society what-so-ever, but will need to be paid for by taxes taken from the private sector and its employees

 

If the private sector is unable to expand and create more jobs and value, but the government has to take more money to pay the valueless jobs it creates, we're in an ever decreasing circle; smaller private sector, bigger government, until something gives

 

To Richard Murphy though, this is of course, a feature, not complete balmpottery