Some graduates are science buffs while others favor aesthetic involvement. Some are verbal, others more visual or mathematical. Some take pleasure in creative handiwork while others despair of manually assembling the simplest product. But despite this healthy diversity, if we accept that in this hypothetical example whatever their many differences all graduates preparing to enter the workforce have learned how to make responsible choices about social issues, then we can look at how, in any particular economy, this universal decision -making preparedness is enhanced or dissipated by the work people do. In light of the above, if we can keep in mind the following three ideas about work, we will be well prepared to understand how work enhances or dissipates skills in different economies.
Work produces human qualities.
Inputs to work include tools, natural resources, products of others' labor, and workers' energies, skills, knowledge, and social relations. Outputs include commodities for consumption, unintended byproducts, and workers' altered moods, increased or diminished skills, and altered personalities. If work is rote, frustrating, and mind numbing, it dampens skills and self -esteem. If work is complex and challenging, it enhances skills and self -esteem. This means the jail keeper, assembly line worker, personnel manager, and accountant all owe elements of their personalities to the jobs they do.