Jake Gordon

No Jobs & No Oil: the unsustainability of full employment and cheap energy

25 April 2004

My dissertation in Sociology is now complete. It can be viewed online.

“Industrial capitalism functions because of an equilibrium in the supply and demand of two crucial commodities: jobs and oil. Without either of the two, societies based upon such an economy will crumble.

Capitalist society requires new markets and industries which must constantly be found to enable economic growth and to replace jobs lost by technical efficiencies. But what if the supply of jobs cannot increase forever, but the demand for new jobs continues to grow?

Industrial society is also dependent upon the supply of cheap energy. In the 19th Century, following the growing use of coal, an even more dense, cheaper and abundant source of energy was tapped in the form of oil - industrial society flourished. We’ve now become complacent upon our supply of energy. But what if the supply of oil cannot increase forever, but the demand for more oil continues to grow?

The conclusion is simple: full employment and high energy consumption cannot be sustained. The death of industrial capitalist society as we know it is unavoidable.”

Read the whole dissertation now.


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