Some jobs are more attractive than others and not all people find the same jobs equally attractive. Many people would probably have enjoyed being a sports reporter, with “perks” including free tickets, good seats and access to the athletes and managers. However, for someone like me with a meagre interest in sports, there was little reward in such a job, except for getting paid. It was not hard to fill the position after I left, so there were clearly others who wanted the job. There are probably more people who want to be sports reporters than there are available jobs. In the case of some jobs, the situation is the opposite: there are more jobs than there are people willing to do them. Some jobs are more sought after than others.

The labour market is not fair, if by “fair” we mean an equal distribution at work of internal (fun, self-realization, etc.) and external (wages, fringe benefits, etc.) goods. Both are clearly unequally distributed. Some jobs are higher in external than in internal goods and vice versa, and some are high in both or low in both. Sometimes you have to make a decision about what sort of goods are most important to you. As a teenager, my ambition was to become a stockbroker and make loads of money, but then I discovered philosophy and had a radical change of course in life.