Barcelona & Brainmail

I’ve just been in Barcelona for the day. Interesting how there isn’t something close to a revolution going on in Spain. The unemployment rate is around 25% peaking close to 50% in some regions and among some segments of the population. So why are things so calm relatively speaking? One reason put forward today was the Spanish social structure. Two and three generations living under one roof, or close together, is quite common, so there are informal support and community networks in place. Compare and contrast this to countries where more people live on their own or in smaller family units and the consequences could end up being very different indeed.

Anyway, that was my discovery for the day. A linked thought is that data analytics is starting to destroy semi-skilled jobs. We’ve had automation killing unskilled jobs for decades, but I suspect this might be something quite new. This, in turn, links with another thought I had on the plane about the death of entry level jobs in some areas. Going are the days when a young person could start out at the bottom with next to no qualifications and work their way to the top. If this is true, what are the implications for social mobility?

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