A question that asked voters to dismiss most private-sector vacancies met a room unwilling to dismiss the people filling them. The result was a clear No verdict, driven less by enthusiasm for corporate life than by suspicion of the question’s definition of value.
The floor’s strongest No arguments made employment itself part of the answer: “Getting a job IS the social/economic benefit.” Mechanics, drivers, warehouse workers, cleaners, care staff and shop workers were repeatedly cast as the economy’s connective tissue, while one highly respected voice warned against the “armchair arrogance” of calling other people’s graft “useless”.
The Yes case was narrower but more pointed, aimed at bureaucracy, compliance and managerial excess: “We do not need more duct tapers, box tickers and unnecessary 5 steps of middle management.” Its demand to “Get rid of bullshit jobs” had force, but the room treated it as an argument against some roles, not evidence that most vacancies lack value.
The two sides also talked past each other over measurability. No voters asked “Who defines the value?”, argued that firms generally hire where customers pay, and stressed the less tangible benefits of wages, confidence, social contact and independence; several blamed government regulation, HR and layers of administration for overhead, while conceding that advertising and management can swell beyond usefulness.
Here, the temperature was defensive rather than celebratory: a rebuke to sneering at ordinary work, not a defence of every private-sector job. The verdict was that “the economy is the people who turn up” — and that was enough to defeat the question’s sweeping claim.
17 Opinions
It seems an odd case to pin the private sector as offering no measurable or social advantage. If I want to see that I would go to my local council.
It takes serious armchair arrogance to decide other people’s graft is 'useless'. The private sector isn't just LinkedIn buzzword merchants... it’s mechanics, lorry drivers, warehouse grafters, private care workers, and cleaners.... With vacancies at a five year low, struggling businesses aren't paying for decorative fluff. If all these 'valueless' workers stayed home, society would collapse by lunchtime.
We do not need more duct tapers, box tickers and unnecessary 5 steps of middle management. They are not contributory jobs for society, they are psychologically harming, they are only there so the employer meets the employee compliance requirements and employee threshold milestones. Get rid of bullshit jobs.
Getting a job IS the social/economic benefit. It doesn't have to be "meaningful" in the sense of the universe or anything. I watch a video of someone mentioning about not wanting to work because of this, I couldn't believe it.
There is no budget for ‘busy work’ in the private sector. Businesses need customers to keep the lights on, the value of their products or service is determined by how much the customer is actually willing to buy it for. Socialists will never understand that reality because they can only destroy wealth.
This is laughable. Private individual is no longer able to look after their little garden. A young person is employed to work on it. They learn about weeds, flowers, earn money. The neighbours are happy the garden looks good. The young person has gained satisfaction at helping someone and gaining a few £. Same with a cleaner who cheers up the person they tidy up for. No job, however small is useless.
The private sector produces things that people are willing to pay for. Many of these things are genuinely useful. Admittedly a fair bit of the activity is about manipulating people to want things they don't need or even which are bad for them. This is an inherent inefficiency of the private sector. But in most cases this is not the majority of the activity.
Who defines the value? Sometimes value isn't tangible. There is an overall benefit to society in people being employed and everything is part of a system that makes society tick.
Companies only employ when there is value, whether or not someone from the outside can see that. Providing a job, perhaps part time, can be a real difference to the life of the person who gets it. Some money, self respect, the support of colleagues & new friends. I saw first hand the difference we made when we gave young people from the village their first jobs, saw the pride on their faces and their first steps towards independence. It's always worth it
All jobs should have value,too many in the public sector