Introduction

The current employment situation entails an enormous waste of resources and an unacceptable level of human suffering. It has led to growing social exclusion, rising inequality between and within nations, and a host of social ills. It is thus both morally unacceptable and economically irrational. Most of the proposed solutions to the education-jobs gap that have gained public attention focus on making the education system and workforce more responsive to the presumed high skill needs of a global "post-industrial or knowledge economy". This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book argues for reversing the common optic or focus on education as the problem. Paid workplaces in capitalist economies can and should be democratically reorganized to use much of the existing knowledge and expanding learning potential that are now wasted through widespread unemployment and underemployment.