Eric Schmidt: Jobs require disruption

Ironic given some of the things Schmidt supports when it comes to regulation - from Wired:

Schmidt blames Europe’s rampant unemployment on the inability to attract investors and innovators. In 2013, Europe’s unemployment rate was climbing above 12 percent, while in the U.S. it was drifting steadily downward below 7.5 percent. “Perhaps Europe’s most pressing problem is its high unemployment rate,” concluded Schmidt.

Uber is a fascinating case study in the types of employment that Americans are willing to accept. It’s easy for Uber to attract tens of thousands of new drivers because they’re all on freelance contract. Uber assumes very little liability and there’s no guarantee of wages.

“Uber stands for a particularly extreme form of wage dumping, which refuses to allow for any minimum wage,” said Dieter Schlenker of Germany’s Taxi Deutschland. “We hope that politicians will steer the taxi clearly into the future and won’t let the U.S. firms put any ideas in their heads.”