Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/995762
20 UCW JUNE 20-26, 2018 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Fake news distorts political debates by JOHN HOOD POLITICS While the term "fake news" may be of recent vin- tage, the phenomenon isn't. For decades, policymak- ers in North Carolina and elsewhere have trafficked in poorly understood, misleading or demonstrably false information – often unknowingly, although that's bad enough – and made poor decisions as a result. A new survey from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics exposed one of the most egregious recent examples: the notion of the "gig economy." For years, we've been told that the stable jobs our parents and grand- parents once enjoyed are increas- ingly being replaced by short-term contracts, temp agencies and the proliferation of independent con- tractors, many of whom would rather not own their own busi- nesses but are forced to do so by heartless employ- ers and inexorable economic forces. This is a factual claim, although hard facts have rarely been in evidence. The just-released BLS report represents the first large-scale survey of its kind in more than a decade. It shows that contin- gent work and independent contracting are not up. They are down. In May 2017, 1.3 percent of U.S. wage and salary workers reported that they had been in their jobs for no longer than a year and expect to keep their jobs for no longer than an additional year. The latest time BLS asked this question, in 2005, 1.8 percent of respondents fit this definition of contingent work- ers. In 1995, the share was 2.2 percent. When BLS broadened the definition to include independent contractors and the self-employed, as well as wage or salary workers who'd been in their current positions for more than a year, the share of contingent workers was 3.8 percent in 2017, 4.1 percent in 2005, and 4.9 percent in 1995. As for "alternative employment arrangements" in general, as BLS defined them, there are fewer independent contractors as a share of the workforce today than in 2005, and about the same num- ber of on-call workers, employees of temp agencies and people working for contract-services firms. Obviously, some professions and industries have become more likely to feature contingent workers and alternative arrangements over time, such as personal transportation. Uber drivers, usu- ally working part time to supplement their salaries from other jobs, have displaced some full-time cab drivers. But other sectors have moved in the oppo- site direction, toward full-time employment. Progressive and populist populations have fre- quently cited the expansion of the gig economy, and its supposedly pernicious effects, as a justifica- tion for pet policies ranging from expanding health insurance and job-training programs to strengthen- ing labor unions and restricting international trade. But it turns out that not only has there been no expansion of the gig economy in the first place, but also many of the millions of people who do work that way actually prefer their current arrangements. Among independent contractors, for example, 79 percent said they'd rather work that way than be a traditional employee. And among temp workers, while a substantial number (46 percent) said they'd prefer a full-time job – and, of course, temp place- ments often lead in that direction – that's a lower share than in 2005. At least in the case of poverty statistics, also fraught with misunderstandings and misinterpreta- tions, politicians have a better excuse: the official statistics are themselves flawed. Is poverty lower, higher or about the same today as it was before the "War on Poverty" of the 1960s? If you go by the official measure, there hasn't been much improvement. But the official measure understates income, overstates inflation and leaves out public- assistance programs such as Medicaid. Properly mea- sured, the poverty rate is vastly lower today (less than 5 percent) than it was in the 1960s (30 percent). Whether the subject is employment, poverty, edu- cation or health care, there will never be perfection in public discourse. We are all prone to making errors or missing important details. But at the very least, we should check our sources, define terms more pre- cisely and be particularly skeptical of gloomy claims about things being worse today than in the past. To be blunt, such claims are usually wrong. Can the experience of world- renowned musician and North Carolina native Joseph Robinson con- tribute to North Carolina's ongoing dialogue about the purpose and value of higher education? You be the judge. Robinson's recent memoir, "Long Winded: An Oboist's Incredible Journey to the New York Philharmonic," asks: How did a small-town boy who never attended conservatory persuade one of the world's greatest conductors, Zubin Mehta, to give him a chance at one of the world's most coveted positions in one of the world's greatest orchestras? Robinson grew up in Lenoir, finished Davidson College, spent a year in Germany on a Fulbright fellowship and did graduate study at the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton. Without the focused, intensive conservatory training that is a usual pre- requisite to a high-level performing career, his effort to build a life around his passion for the oboe was a struggle. He moved through a series of journeyman teaching and performing positions at the Atlanta Symphony, the North Carolina School of the Arts and the University of Maryland before he broke through to the top. Growing up in a small North Carolina town might not be the best background for an aspiring classical musician. But the mountain furniture community of Lenoir had the best high school band in the state. When Robinson was drafted to fill an empty oboe slot, his course was set. He loved the oboe so much that his Davidson classmates called him "Oboe Joe." But Davidson's musical program lacked the professional music training that Robinson craved. He almost transferred to Oberlin where there were more opportunities. Instead, he stayed at Davidson and majored in English, economics and the liberal arts, focusing on writing and expression. His success at Davidson led to a Fulbright grant and the opportunity to meet Marcel Tabuteau, whom Robinson says was the greatest player and oboe pedagogue of the 20th century. When Tabuteau learned that Robinson was an English major and a good writer who could help write his book on oboe theory, he agreed to give him oboe instruction. Those five weeks with Tabuteau, Robinson says, "more than compensated for the conservatory training I did not receive." Years later, Robinson still had not achieved his aspiration to land a first oboe chair in a major orchestra when Harold Gomberg, the acclaimed lead oboe of the New York Philharmonic, retired. Audaciously, Robinson applied, and when finally granted an audition, he prepared endlessly. He was ready for the hour and 20 minutes of paces the audition committee demanded. Afterwards, he was confident that he had done very well. But Philharmonic's personnel manager, James Chambers, after saying how well the audition went, reported that music director Mehta judged Robinson's tone "too strong" for the Philharmonic. He was not to be one of the two players who were finalists. That should have been the end of it, but Robinson writes, "I knew that winning a once-in-a-lifetime position like principal oboe of the New York Philharmonic was like winning the lottery." At 3 a.m., he wrote Chambers explaining why his tone might have seemed too strong and, "You will not make a mistake by choosing Eric or Joe, but you might by excluding me if tone is really the issue." When Chambers read the letter to Mehta, they agreed that it could not have been "more persuasive or fortuitous." Chambers reported that Mehta said, "If you believe in yourself that much, he will hear you again." Robinson's final audition was successful. "His winning lottery ticket," he writes, "had Davidson College written all over it." How does Robinson's experiences contribute to our higher education debate? Simply put, while training for jobs and careers is critical, liberal arts are the keys to special lifetime opportunities like Robinson's "winning lottery ticket." JOHN HOOD, Chairman of the John Locke Foundation. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. Liberal arts: The pay-off by D.G. MARTIN D.G. MARTIN, Host of UNC's Book Watch. COMMENTS? Edi- tor@upandcomingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. Joseph Robinson Contingent work and independent contracting are not up. They are down.