On jobs lost when industries close

I find this commentary on what happens, and what governments can do about it, when the car industry shuts down in Australia to sound pretty credible.   Certainly much more credible than Sinclair Davidson's vague take on "not forgetting" the retrenched workers which ended with the oh-so-predictable line that the best thing the government could do would be to promote more more industry by reducing taxes and reforming industrial relations.

[I can write the ending for the script of any Davidson/Sloan/Novak/Moran interview regardless of the issue.  An asteroid about the hit the greater Melbourne area?:  "Well, if true, and scientists haven't had a good record at predication lately, look at climate change; government needs to immediately reduce the cost of rebuilding by cutting taxes and easing up on the building code, and revising IR laws." ]

I note this part from The Conversation piece with interest:

Some commentators have characterised the car industry closures as unleashing a round of creative destruction that will drive the growth of new industries and create new jobs. For that to be true, it is necessary to assume that existing investments in the car industry somehow inhibit the growth of other “better” opportunities. This is bunkum: if there were investment opportunities in these other sectors, the investments would have happened regardless of the automotive sector. In fact, spillover arguments would suggest such investments are now less likely without the critical mass of the automotive sector.

There is currently no obvious new job generator in the Australian economy except for domestic construction and infrastructure projects. This does not bode well for the future in Victoria and South Australia.