A delve into the archives has turned up the following job advertisement in a US periodical from 50 years ago. It says more about “human capital” and the real reasons behind encouraging people to invest in themselves than many a learned disquisition.

“How a ‘crazy rumour’ got me promoted!

What I overheard one morning shook me right out of a rut! ‘Company’s getting ready to cut back … bound to be layoffs,’ I heard them say. ‘Just another crazy rumour,’ I told myself. Just the same, I took quick stock of myself that night. […] I wasn’t in trouble But I sure wasn’t ‘in solid’ like I should be. That’s when I made up my mind to enroll for training with I.C.S. […] That was a year ago. There have been two layoffs since then. While some of the others were just hanging on or being released, I was moving up. […] Don’t wait for a ‘crazy rumour’ to set you straight. Take out your ‘job insurance’ right now. […]”

But why pay “job insurance” to ICS or whoever? Why not pay it directly to your employer, who could use a portion of it to train you to do the job for which you were employed. He could deduct the “job insurance” straight from your pay cheque and call it a pay cut.