Lots of startups are creating or shifting lots of jobs, but I'm not sure they're the right kinds of jobs. I wish that that was explicitly mentioned. I'm not sure the creating/shifting is a big problem as much as it is just what the job is.
For example, all the rideshare companies are creating jobs, but if they're working longer and longer for less pay like the drivers are claiming, then I don't know if that's a good thing. Homejoy and Handybook etc. take a big cut from what I can tell, to the point that I'm considering just getting a cleaning company/individual directly instead of going through the convenient middleman. Alfred, the latest Disrupt winner, is just like huh? How is that supposed to pay more than minimum wage? Plus everyone loves the contracting workaround, which tends to benefit companies more than the contractor. Even the one company I can think of that doesn't seem to be too bad - Instacart - contracts as far as I can tell.
My side biz is owning a burger shop and I'm trying to pay more than minimum wage and giving out overtime to share what little wealth I have - and it makes me really happy when I see my employees happy and buying new iPhones and MacBook Airs. Would be nice if others followed suit. Not just a startup problem either... it's a potentially huge reason as to why Americans don't have disposable income any more. :/
This is a tough one to understand since traditional technology solutions reduce the need for many jobs with a net effect of eliminating many jobs since those workers no longer have the skill set. If you look at this differently, it's a case for new ways of thinking about worker education (Codacademy/One Month/etc.) but in a way more focused on employment (General Assembly/Hack Reactor/etc.) The former group of companies is built to scale whereas the latter is a high touch, franchise model.
Another case where jobs are being created is in the direct service marketplace with the shared economy (Uber/Airbnb/etc.) as well as the general assistance (TaskRabbit/VA positions/etc.).
With the rise of mobile, I think we'll see more situations where knowledge workers can provide quick and dirty value to lower tech industries in ways that are highly targeted and very efficient. Making money on the side should be higher value than answering surveys but easier and with less commitment that ramping up a full consulting business or getting a part-time job at a b&m store. /rant
I think it would have been a lot more interesting if they had requested startups that significantly reduced the average cost of living and/or moved us closer towards a world where not everyone has to have a job.
They did. Housing is the main component of cost of living in the developed world, but to a significant extent that's a problem of transportation, which was mentioned. In the US, housing, healthcare and college fees are the big three, and the latter two were explicitly mentioned.
I think if you look at an ecosystem as a whole the. It has happened. Google is a good example. The actual enterprise has thousands of jobs but has created over a million. You have upstream hardware manufacturers and downstream developers. There is SEO, advertising, X-Prize, managed services, etc. If someone deleted google today the net loss to jobs would probably be well over 1m jobs.
It's a good point. I was also thinking SalesForce too, but then thought to myself "actually I know tons of former SAP people who now just work for SalesForce/partners and thus just shifting the jobs elsewhere". Selling CRM software in 2001 is not dissimilar to selling SaaS CRM in 2014.
I'm genuinely curious about YC's mission here and some examples. I'd love to position a concept towards that goal but can't quite grok it.
I still am curious about this one. Is there any startup that has successfully done this in recent history?
Keep in mind, there is a big difference (IMO) between creating new jobs and shifting existing ones.