human capital
hu·man cap·i·tal
noun
the skills, knowledge, and experience possessed by an individual or population, viewed in terms of their value or cost to an organization or country.
Since the boom of big industry, the rise and need for consumer goods, and the beginning of credit cards in the 1950s, the need for more and more workers to produce the goods to meet demands has only increased. As time progressed, the need for more skilled workers with more qualifications increased as well, meaning that companies are now looking for workers who have more than just strength and can follow instructions.
Now, people of all ages are going to gain a higher education, whether for the first time ever, or going back to gain another degree to make themselves more marketable and hireable to companies. People are also going to trade schools, getting certificates in various fields, doing internships that require 40 hours a week but not getting paid just to create more appeal to the jobs they will apply to after graduation.
Do we just exist to help companies grow and make more money while we are stuck working more hours than we want? Are we forced to take jobs that only pay us 11-15 dollars an hour when we have a Bachelor’s degree just so we can survive? Will the U.S. always revolve around human capital and how marketable we all are to the big companies just to get a job?
The optimist in me wants to say no, we aren’t just here to make companies money and that we are slowly but surely moving away from the idea of human capital and that we are working towards fair wages for work. The pessimist and realist in me wants to say that yes, we will forever be in the hold of having to constantly try and one up everyone to get the very best job. Especially with the huge push for high school students to go to college. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the rate of people enrolling in colleges (2 year and 4 year institutions) has increased to 30 percent of young adults enrolling in college in 2017. Meaning that, as time has increased, more and more people are attending college, increasing the student loan debt in the U.S. and continuing the idea of human capital.
I’m not sure how we would end this trend, possibly thinking about people as just that: people, and not money makers for companies, not putting as much pressure on everyone to gain as many valuable skills as they can within 4 to 5 years of education or the pressure to go back to school. Are we just here to make money for companies? I’d like to say no, because we are more than just workers to create goods that we will then turn around and buy, but the way that the U.S. is running and the way that capitalism in America is going, we are headed to the path where we only exist to make companies more money.
HCXO, Erika