Blog #12

In the piece “Why the Rich Are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer” by Robert B. Reich he talks about the different types of jobs in the economy. He breaks the types of jobs out there into three different groups in which he uses boats as a metaphor to describe them. The three types of jobs he discuss are routine position jobs, in-person jobs, and symbolic analysts (Jacobus 420).
According to him, the task of the job a person holds controls that person’s position in the world economy. With each type of job he then goes into detail about why their position in the world economy depends on their function. For instance, the position of routine workers in the world economy causes them to be a the low end of the totem pole because their jobs are declining. Not only are their jobs declining but their wages are decreasing due to the availability of worldwide cheap labor and more efficient means of production. Those who hold in-person jobs future is not as well cut-out as routine workers, but they suffer more competition from routine workers and some of their work is also being replaced by machines (Jacobus 426). Those who hold symbolic analyst positions jobs, on the other hand, are in demand and are benefiting the most from the world-market being that they have more clients to sell their ideas to.
So in the end it is the task that a person’s job requires of them that dictates his or her position in the world economy. Thus whose tasks require little education or training, is monotonous, or require little skill are suffering most from a world economy because of newer modes of production and competition. Those with symbolic analyst skills are reaping high benefits.

Works Cited
Reich, Robert. “Why the Rich Are Getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer.” A World of Ideas:
Essential Readings for College Writers .Ed. Lee A Jacobus. 7th ed. New York: Bedford/St.
Martin’s, 2006. pp.420-433.