Marginal Utility of jobs

How life changes when an individual starts working. Before starting work, a person would think about getting the dream job, or whatever possible jobs that he/she would not mind working.

It's only when upon getting the job, the person would look back feel it is not really the job that matters. It is the risk and return of the job that is important to him at the end of the day.

So what can be the return of a job? Well, it must be the salary, medical and health benefits and other monetary incentives that the person would get in the job. It must also be the future benefits of the job, like yearly bonuses and salary increments.

And what about the risks? Surely a person working inside an office does not face the risk of having an accident on the road more than a lorry driver. But an office worker does face the risk of stress, hypertension, stroke, heart disease and many more if the office worker does not take care of his health. In this day of age, with all the fuss on flexible working arrangements surely working cannot be bad. There is little truth in this statement for the over-worked lot which is mainly the middle class society.

Then there is the risk that the office worker will lose his job in 5-10 years time due to the mobility of jobs due to labour wage competition from the entire globe, mainly India and China. So does the risk and return commensurate with each other?

Of course they should be, that's what HR is for. Ensuring that workers obtain the best benefits that the company can offer. That's what companies would view. Workers would have a differing opinion on this subject matter.

Workers would tend to measure if their own personal marginal utility is met. If the return and risks of the jobs enable the workers to reach their highest marginal utility, workers would be satisfied with the job.

The problem arises when workers have different marginal utility. What may be one's person food is another person's posion. Thus it is difficult to gauge whether a job is suitable for a person without that person taking the leap and trying the job out.

So end of day, you do need to remember that opinions differ as to whether a job is good or not. Only you will know what you like to do, and what jobs are suitable for you to meet your own personal marginal utility.