Emotions are running high with the announcement that American Express will close its call service center, costing the city 1,900 jobs. Mayor Bill Knight is taking heat for his ‘happy talk’ statement, while council member and mayoral candidate Robbie Perkins says “this is about as bad as it gets.”
I’ve often heard Walter Williams speak about economic evolution in America. Put it this way —Williams doesn’t think we should be all broken up about all the ice companies that went out of business when refrigeration was invented.
Turns out Williams recently wrote about the changes in telecommunications:
In 1970, the telecommunications industry employed 421,000 workers, in good-paying jobs as switchboard operators, handling 9.8 billion long-distance calls yearly. Today, the telecommunications industry employs fewer than 60,000 operators, and they handle more than 100 billion long-distance calls yearly. That’s an 85 percent job loss. The spectacular advances in telecommunications, which raised productivity, made the cost of long-distance calls a tiny fraction of what they were.
What we’re witnessing in many of our industries is what economic historian Joseph Schumpeter called “creative destruction.” The adjustment to it can be painful, but to stand in its way will make us a poorer nation.
Little comfort to those who face relocating or losing their job. Hey, I’ve lost my job before —- remember, I was in the newspaper business, which so I hear has been cutting jobs—-but I chose to stay here in Greensboro and scrape out a living. If I can do it, anybody can.
One last thought —what happens to employees at the Netflix shipping center when when they go streaming full time?
