Most people have some sort of
bias against money, thinking that everything linked to money, no matter what
the thing is, is evil. If money is really evil in itself, it must follow that
money should never be a consideration in choosing a job. The validity of this
argument, however, is seldom questioned. Only when we notice that money is
merely a means of exchange and does not lead to any moral judgement in itself,
we can then study the issue impartially.
The crux of the
issue here is why we should take any job at all. Surely there are many reasons
for taking a job, such as for professional respect, for the passion to serve
the society, for some kind of social status—and, for money. In very rare cases
do people ever choose their jobs for merely one of these reasons. Most of the
times people work because they want to achieve a number of their personal
goals. The most important aspect of their jobs will hence vary from person to
person. Of course it is perfectly possible that a person may choose a job
largely because of the generous pay that the employer offers. Everyone has to
get enough money to survive. Hence if a person is currently living in a
miserable condition and, out of his desperate desire for money, he accepts a
job offer, the most important aspect of his job is most probably the money. And
there is nothing morally wrong with that. The demand for money should surely
prevail in this case.
However the need
for certain minimum level of salary is only one of the considerations that
people make when choosing jobs. It is hence also possible that the person is
already rather rich even without a job, but he chooses to work to make himself
happier. The pleasures of his career life may emerge from his passion for the
profession or the social recognition he may get thereby, but no matter why he
feels happy after taking the job, in this case money may only play an
insignificant role, if any, in his job.
What have now been
presented can actually be seen as the two extreme ends of the issue. Most
likely is still that a person works both for his basic needs and for the
pleasure specifically derived from the career life. Whether money will come out
as the single most important determinant is hence depended on the various
possible cases, more particularly, on the importance of the wages to his living
standard. It is therefore rather ridiculous to give a general yes-or-no
response to this question and it takes person judicious considerations before
he decides to take a job.
