Non-POM economies have no unemployment. Let me say that another way. Non-POM economies have full employment. By that I mean that anyone who wants to earn money can do whatever they want that produces a net benefit to others and be paid for it. They don’t need to come to an agreement with anyone else before working. Everyone is working for themselves or, to put it another way, everyone is self-employed.
In a POM economy, businesses compete against one another. In a non-POM economy, everyone works with other people, cooperatively, to produce net benefits for others. One may work in some sort of organization or completely alone. But if one wants the cooperation of others, one will be cooperative, reliable, honest, and will do whatever it takes to maximize benefit to others and minimize harm.
This means that current job descriptions may change at the time of a transition to a non-POM economy. For example, we now have such occupations as cashier, bookkeeper, accountant, tax collector, bank director, stock broker, insurance salesman, and others that are involved in some way with our current POM. When our money is no longer transferable from one person to another and exists only in computer accounts, such occupations will be pointless. There will be no insurance or banking industries. There will be no stock market. There will be no tax collectors (or taxes).
In a POM economy the ending of an industry would mean that many people would be out of work, unemployed. But in a non-POM economy, such an event would mean that many people would be freed to contribute in other ways. Those who work in banking, insurance, and stock markets are intelligent and capable people. Their skills, abilities, and knowledge are not limited to their current occupations. Accountants, bookkeepers, and cashiers are careful, meticulous people who can use those talents in many other fields.
So let’s say you are working in one of these jobs that will cease to exist at the transition. What do you do? How can you earn money?
First, you should not panic. Your needs will be met because other people will be paid for meeting your needs. Your children will be educated. Your family will be given food, clothing, housing, and medical care, all without you having to pay a penny since the Payers will compensate those who provide you and your family with these goods and services.
But far beyond the changes in job activities and the nature of the work being done there will be a change in the relationships of the workplace. Surveys I have read about have indicated that most people really don’t like their jobs. Most people find their jobs are a source of stress, anxiety, anger, bitterness, resentment, and discouragement. A large proportion of the working population say they don’t like their boss.
With the advent of a non-POM economy, this will change. People will find success only by working with others and through cooperation. The people you work with will greatly desire that you have success and will want to help you have success. Why? Because your success means more money for them. The better you do your job the more money you make, and the more money others also make. We will all be in it together.
So how do you find something to do that needs doing and that you can get paid for? Just as you do now. Want ads, employment agencies, friends and the Internet are all sources of information about work that someone wants to have done. Anyone who wants someone to help them with their work will want to publicize the opportunity to earn money. Since this work can earn money, those who help bring worker and work together will also be paid. In short, lots of people will help you find work to do.
Also, no one has to pay for necessities so people don’t have to remain in jobs they hate. If you don’t like your job you can always do something else or even nothing. A mother who prefers to stay at home to take care of her children can do so, and get paid for it. A man who wants to be an artist or an author or a song writer can follow his muse without harming his family and if he is good enough at what he does, get paid for it. If you want to take off for a few months to "recharge your batteries" you can do so. You can also pursue a career with singleminded determination, and everyone around you will help.
You have probably heard the phrase "if money were no object" meaning if there were plenty of money available to pay for whatever was needed. In the non-POM economy, money is never an object. That is, whatever you do that produces net benefit will be paid. There is never a shortage of money to pay for benefits. For every activity, money is no object with non-POM. This means that you will never be "fired" or "laid off" due to a lack of money. You work cannot be "exported" as has happened to so many of our traditional industries. Of course, you might decide to change what you do to make more money or seek education (which you will not have to pay for) to improve your skills but that is up to you.
So what could the society expect from these changes? One would expect that people would work happier with less stress and far more cooperation. One would expect production to increase dramatically since there would be far more people providing actual goods and services rather than merely dealing with money. One would expect that the goods and services produced would be those which actually benefit people. One would expect the infrastructure of roads, sewage systems, utilities, and conservation would be greatly improved since those things provide an obvious benefit. One would expect products which lasted rather than wearing out quickly since long-lasting products would produce more benefit and thereby generate more pay. One would expect trustworthy clerks and sales people in the marketplace since they would be paid for how they benefited the customers. On would expect products which are safe and whose documentation is accurate and easy to understand because that would increase the pay of all those who contributed to those products.
But there is another side to this new work situation. That is the reputation of the people who work. Just as one can earn money by bringing together those who want to work with those who need work done, one can also earn money by getting the right person for that job and preventing the wrong person. In other words, everyone will accumulate a reputation based on their past performance. Have they been honest, trustworthy, easy to deal with, dependable, cooperative, intelligent, careful, hard working? Or have they lacked these qualities. Making available such information about one’s work performances is useful in making decisions about with whom you will work. Since each person is self-employed, when you choose to work with others you are employing them in the same sense that they are employing you. Therefore, you have just as much right to know about their reputation as they have to know about your reputation. If they are reluctant or refuse to let you know their reputation, they reveal themselves. If they share willingly their reputation then you will know what others have shared about them.
This sharing of reputation information is something that in a POM society would be prey to many abuses. People might lie or otherwise cheat or libel in creating a database. People might provide information that is inappropriate. There would be all sorts of ways to make money by such a system. But in a non-POM economy, any abuse of such a reputation system would cost a lot of people a lot of money. Therefore, they would build in many protections for the individuals who were described by the system as well as those who get information from the system.
So let’s say you have had only one job and your supervisor didn’t like you for some reason. When contributing information to your work reputation, your supervisor in a non-POM economy will risk lots of money and the cooperation of others if he does not give an honest evaluation of your work performance. His own reputation is going to be affected by the information he provides about you. And his is not the only source of information on your work performance. Everyone else you worked with will also be able to contribute. And like your supervisor, their reputations will also be affected by how accurately they evaluate your work. Therefore, if you are doing good work it will be very difficult for just one or two people to give you a bad reputation.
You will have access to the reputations of those with whom you may be working as well, of course. If someone is a poor supervisor, you will be able to find that out ahead of time and make your decision as to whether to work with them or not. (Note that poor supervisors do not long remain as supervisors and they cannot simply go to another town leaving their reputation behind: it goes with them.) You will be able to have a very good idea of what the people you will work with are like.
Finally, I would like to bring to your attention that there is a lot of work that needs to be done in our society and in every other industrial nation in the world. (Only industrialized nations can be non-POM because of the technology required.) In many cases we say that we really need certain things done but "we just don’t have the money" to get them done. We have children in need of care and education. We have infrastructure like bridges, roads, and buildings that need maintenance. We need alternative sources of energy. We need energy efficient appliances. We need better security against terrorist threats. There are many things we need which are not being provided. In a non-POM economy, anyone who provided those things would be paid. Therefore, not only will there be plenty of work available for everyone who wants to earn money, but the work that gets done will be the work that produces the most real benefits.
