Bullsh*t Jobs: A Deep Dive Into Modern Employment Theater
"I Work, Therefore I Am"
If your job vanished overnight, would anyone notice. I mean the functioning of society at large. Would the trains stop? Would food rot in fields? Would babies go un-diapered?
If the answer is “nah,” you might be in a bullshit job.
Welcome to the Theater of the Absurd (Employment Edition)
The term “bullshit job” was popularized (and beautifully categorized) by anthropologist David Graeber in his 2018 book Bullshit Jobs: A Theory. It’s not a term of disrespect for workers, rather it’s a critique of a system that creates meaningless work—-work that even the people doing it know is meaningless.
Per a YouGov survey, cited by Graeber, 37% of British workers believed their job made no meaningful contribution to the world. In the Netherlands? A cool 40%. That’s not a few disillusioned interns…that’s a continent's worth of desk-sitters wondering if the printer jam is the only excitement they’ll face this week.
The Taxonomy of Bullshit Job
Graeber didn’t just call out nonsense, he categorized it like a naturalist discovering a new genus of frog:
1. Flunkies – Their job is to make someone else look or feel important. Think doormen, receptionists in otherwise empty lobbies, or “Executive Vision Coordinators” who schedule PowerPoints for people too rich to click a mouse.
2. Goons – Their job exists only because others like them do. Lobbyists, PR people, telemarketers. They cancel each other out like algebra, but noisier. Make a list of all the beneficial things they bring to the table. No, you won't need a pencil.
3. Duct Tapers – They fix problems that shouldn't exist. “I spend all day correcting errors from the software my company refuses to upgrade, because Dave from Accounting ‘doesn’t trust the cloud.’”
4. Box Tickers – They exist so an organization can say it did a thing it didn’t actually do. Compliance officers with no authority. People who write reports no one reads. Strategic alignment facilitators of synergistic stakeholder engagement. (Okay, that one may not be real…)
5. Taskmasters – Managers of people who don’t need managing, or creators of pointless tasks to justify their own roles. Yes, this includes some middle managers and definitely your sixth Zoom check-in this week.
A Nation of Slackers… But Paid?
Here’s where things get spicy. The U.S. has seen a massive rise in what the Bureau of Labor Statistics calls “professional services.” A vague soup that includes consultants, analysts, strategists, and “thought leaders” who may or may not be AI in a Patagonia vest.
Between 1950 and 2010, U.S. agricultural employment fell from 12% to under 2%. Manufacturing dropped from 33% to 10%. But professional, managerial, and clerical work? Up to nearly 50%. And yet productivity hasn’t kept pace. The world got digitized, but somehow Karen from HR still spends 11 hours a week updating a spreadsheet nobody uses.
Why?
Because capitalism isn’t just about efficiency. It’s also about control. It’s about keeping you busy. If people had free time, they might ask dangerous questions like, “Why is insulin $300?” or “Why is there so much inequality in the world?”
---
But Don’t People Want to Work?
Yes. People want purposeful work. What they don’t want is to spend their precious time “looking busy” while their soul slowly turns to mush.
Graeber pointed out that even in fantasy, we don’t dream of being executives. We dream of being bakers, farmers, musicians, pirates. Nobody lays in bed thinking, “God, I’d kill to manage a supply chain.”
Yet when we meet people at parties, we ask: “What do you do?” Not “What do you love?” or “What makes you feel alive?” Just a title, a cog description. If your answer is “I streamline cross-departmental strategic initiatives,” people start looking for the guac.
What’s the Way Out?
Recognize that your value isn’t your job. That’s a hell of an identity crisis for most of us, but it’s liberating. We’ve internalized the idea that worth is tied to output, but that logic belongs to machines, not humans.
Secondly, support universal policies like universal basic income, four-day workweeks, and worker co-ops, which help prioritize meaningful work over performative labor. Holy sh$t! Revolutionary idea…
Finally, just…talk about it. Bullshit jobs persist in part because we’re afraid to say, “Hey, what exactly are we doing here? This is completely and utterly useless.” Say it anyway. Be like your toddler…unfiltered and unapologetically honest.
---
In Conclusion: A Love Letter to the Bullshitters
To the paper-pushers, inbox-warriors, and mouse-clickers: I see you. You’re not the problem. The system is. Your existential dread isn’t laziness, rather it’s your soul, politely knocking and asking, “Can we do literally anything else?”
Thank you for making your time on Earth a little less meaningless by wasting it here with me.
---
Sources:
Graeber, D. (2018). Bullshit Jobs: A Theory. Simon & Schuster.
YouGov Surveys on Job Meaning (2015, 2017)
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment Data
Eurostat Labor Reports