Just How Inefficient is Our Society?

I was listening to a conversation about efficiency in the U.S. economy the other day. It’s actually amazing how far below our actual capabilities we are right now when you stop and think about it. I’m thinking in terms of fully utilizing our human resources.

I recently spent 11 months unemployed. I went from being an experienced and productive computer engineer to someone who produced zero net contribution to our economy for those months. I worked hard every day, but that effort was devoted to my job search routine, filling out job applications, preparing for interviews, etc. (I also did volunteer work and spent more time with my family, but I’m not counting that here.) Fortunately I have a job that allows me to be productive again, but when I look back at that time I spent unemployed I shake my head at the waste of time and effort that could have been put to much better use.

Today we have about 10% of our workforce in this situation – representing maybe a 10% waste in our productivity.  It’s hard to estimate what portion of the potential workforce is not counted in that number because they have given up or see no opportunity for a meaningful job. Some people estimate that the real number when these people are taken into account is closer to 20%. Then add a few percent more cover the people currently in prison. We can argue about adding the number of people in the military to this amount too, but that’s a relatively small number compared to other factors.

The next big factor, and potentially the biggest factor of all, is the number of people underemployed. These are people who are working at jobs that, for whatever reason, do not allow them to fully contribute to society what they are capable of. By the time you add all these factors in, our human workforce as a group is almost certainly contributing less than half of what they are capable of.

You could spend considerable time debating what portion of this is due to personal choices, cultural factors, or inefficiencies in the market. I don’t know the correct answer here. I’m sure of two things though: (1) We as a society are doing a fraction of what we are capable of and there’s room for considerable improvement, and (2) we are in a situation where there’s a considerable need for that extra human potential to solve a growing list of problems.