The circle representing lost newspaper jobs is noticeably larger than the circle for online publishing job gains. That sums up the flaw in this philosophy. The new industries are almost always more efficient than the industry they replace, including being able to do more work with fewer employees.
Some of the displaced journalists will be able to find work in online publishing, but there aren't enough jobs for all of them. And even the journalists who get lucky enough to find a job in the new industry will be paid far less than in their previous jobs due to leaner profit margins, a large and desperate pool of newly-unemployed journalists, and downward wage pressure from bloggers willing to work for nothing more than the satisfaction of being published.
As for gadget makers, nearly all consumer electronics and parts are manufactured overseas, and have been for several years. Any job gains or losses resulting from phone and tablet sales will show up in China, Korea, or Thailand, not America.
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Not quite that simple
Some of the displaced journalists will be able to find work in online publishing, but there aren't enough jobs for all of them. And even the journalists who get lucky enough to find a job in the new industry will be paid far less than in their previous jobs due to leaner profit margins, a large and desperate pool of newly-unemployed journalists, and downward wage pressure from bloggers willing to work for nothing more than the satisfaction of being published.
As for gadget makers, nearly all consumer electronics and parts are manufactured overseas, and have been for several years. Any job gains or losses resulting from phone and tablet sales will show up in China, Korea, or Thailand, not America.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by mdb07a.
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