The False Premise of “Jobs”
The conventional political debate operates within capitalist framing where “jobs” are the natural state of economic organization. This is ideology masquerading as economic necessity. Jobs exist as the primary mechanism for capitalist extraction.
How Employment Enables Extraction
The extraction mechanism works simply. A worker produces $100 of value. The worker receives $40 in wages. A capitalist extracts $60 for “owning” the means of production. This extraction is then justified as “providing employment.”
The “job” is the insertion point where a capitalist middleman positions themselves between human need and human ability, then extracts rent for “coordinating” production.
Why Job Guarantees Fail
Job guarantees are backward-looking make-work that create dependency. They accept the premise that employment is necessary and natural. They preserve the extraction relationship by maintaining the capitalist middleman. They create dependency on the state as employer rather than building worker ownership and power.
The Alternative
Worker cooperatives build ownership and solve real problems. They eliminate the extraction point by removing the capitalist middleman. Workers who produce the value also control the enterprise and receive the full benefit of their labor. This is addressed in detail in our sections on worker cooperatives and beyond employment.