I've heard that about 1 out of every 8 American jobs are directly or indirectly related to the auto industry. Directly related jobs include those who work in the auto and parts factories, auto sales, auto rentals, mechanics, and the like. In directly related jobs probably include things like auto sound systems and customization, gasoline sales, and perhaps highway construction.

In the case of Bill Gates, he cofounded a company that employs somewhere around 20,000 employees yet is far more profitable than GM with 10 times the number of employees. In fact, Microsoft may well be more profitable than the Big-3 automakers put together. Microsoft's products are used by millions of people every day and have directly and indirectly created an incredible number of jobs around the world, almost certainly numbering in the millions. There are a lot of programmers out there developing applications for Windows platforms. There are also help desk personnel, network administrators, computer sales, computer manufacturing, and a host of related jobs out there, directly or indirectly related to Microsoft and its products. As a personal note, I graduated high school in 1975, never having seen a computer except on TV. For many years, I've made my living doing a job that wouldn't be possible without computers, just like millions of other people. How much is that worth?

As far as the value society puts on particular jobs, the old economics principle of supply and demand comes into play. There are somewhere around 2 million teachers in America. I used to be one. It's an important job, but so long as the supply of teachers meets the demand, then there's no push to substancially increase their pay*. Likewise, there are a lot (over a million) firefighters in America. They literally keep the country from burning down around us. The Fallen Fire Fighter Memorial is located here in Colorado Springs. This year, they added more than 80 additional names to the wall. In many places, their pay is pretty good but still, it seems lacking compared to the value they provide to the community. However, fire departments have little trouble recruiting and retaining good firefighters. The market says their pay is adequate, otherwise they'd have to raise salaries to meet their personnel needs.

Likewise, we as a society put a high value on entertainment. That's why people with relatively rare skills in athletics or the performing arts can earn extremely generous salaries. There are some actors who pull in $20 million per movie. There are some athletes who pull in more than $10 million a year. That may seem excessive, especially compared to teachers and firefighters, but how many of us can act well enough that millions of people will pay $8 to watch (or how many of us can hit a 98 MPH fastball)? Every year, millions of American high school kids are involved in athletics, but there are only a few thousand major league professional athletes in the country. Supply and demand is definitely a factor. As long as people are willing to pay for movie, concert, or sporting event tickets, then those with the most talent will always pull in big bucks.

*In the case of teachers, their up front pay is pretty low but their retirement is very generous. In Colorado, teachers who retire after 30 years gets 70% of their highest pay for the rest of their life with adjustments for inflation. Compare that to a 401K and you'll find it damned generous. Not only that, but I don't know of any companies that give people 3 months off for summer, 2 weeks for Christmas, just about every holiday known to man, plus "teacher work days" off. Teaching, done well, is hard work but so are many other jobs that require people to work many more hours per year.