Loved the series, all of its episodes. Obama, who held one of the highest offices in the world and touched so many lives, narrates it perfectly in his deep voice.
To see what people do, go through and think about work at different levels from the so-called "low-paying" jobs to being the bosses, is enlightening. You don't seem to appreciate enough at times what people at the bottom go through physically and emotionally doing what they do and earn low pay. It gives you a great perspective and lots of knowledge definitely with insight on different jobs.
The 4 episode series covers jobs across different levels in services, hospitality and home care industry. No matter what you do now, you would be able to connect with each of the individuals and if not, you would definitely get cognisant of what different people at different positions do whether below or above yours, or in your community.
It doesn't just cover their roles, and responsibilities but shows what the job means for the individuals at each of this level. When you are at the bottom, the job is typically just a means for you to survive. It may not be what you wanted to do or like doing, but you do it to pay your bills and provide for your family. Sometimes you may have to do 2 or 3 of these jobs to meet your expenses.
As you go up, you earn more and can satisfy most of your needs and then it starts becoming about your job satisfaction, aspirations and recognitions. You don't have to worry about your bills now, and you start thinking, are you making an impact or are you being recognized enough? And when you are the ultimate boss in the chain, you have to carry the aspirations of people that work for you, and of the community at large.
The series also highlights the increasing gap between the earnings of the top jobs and the low-paying service jobs. While the pay at the top and that of the "knowledge workers" has been increasing and the bosses' salary can run into millions of dollars, the pay at the bottom hasn't increased much. The price of real estate, education, and healthcare has increased tremendously and is unsustainable for a large fraction of the population.
While AI and automation can claim to make many redundant or low-end jobs obsolete, we will still need people doing some of these services. It is important to realise everyone's effort and aspirations and somehow bridge the gap of the opportunity they lack to make the society inclusive and a better place.
