[vkou]

> Jobs for the sake of bragging about how many people are employed is just as useless.

They aren't useless in a society where the only means of survival is having a job.

In fact, in a society where the only means of survival is having a job, part of the social contract is 'everyone should be able to get a job'. Otherwise, you may get to meet a lot of angry, desperate people, with nothing to lose.

[vmception]

Yeah we should fix that and is a separate issue.

Vilifying a corporation that suddenly remembered they have a lot of random people don’t help generate revenue is odd. Similarly, assuming distress of a corporation when they remember to cut its workforce is just as odd. Its probably an accurate assumption, it just doesn't have to be and it would make more sense for corporations to be more nimble.

[Apocryphon]

Maybe that corporation shouldn't have hired all of these people in the first place, and those people could have found jobs at places with more stable workforce plans.

[kansface]

Jobs aren't useless, but a job can produce net negative value. Consider other politically mandated jobs like gas station attendants in Oregon. These sorts of jobs (and the government guaranteeing a job for everyone) are downright dystopian - and further still, I can't imagine the path to a healthy society.

[vkou]

A lot of jobs produce net negative value, but the guy who pumps my gas, or the Wal-Mart greeter isn't at the front of that list. The guy who cold-calls me with telemarketing crap would be, though.

Everyone having an opportunity for employment is not dystopia. A real dystopia is when you have no good social safety net, but also have a large, unemployed underclass, which has no ability to make a living for themselves.