New Dream Job Will Pay You $2,320 a Month to Do Absolutely Nothing

Even if you absolutely love what you do, it's tough not to daydream about what it'd be like to retire early and spend the rest of your days doing anything and everything you want. Or better yet, finding a gig that actually pays you to do just that...

Gothenburg, Sweden | Shutterstock
Gothenburg, Sweden | Shutterstock

Even if you absolutely love what you do, it's tough not to daydream about what it'd be like to retire early and spend the rest of your days doing anything and everything you want. Or better yet, finding a gig that actually pays you to do just that.

Well, it turns out that such a fantasy could one day be your reality, because there's a new opportunity in Sweden, promising a cool $2,320 a month for doing absolutely nothing.

This wildly unique new dream job comes courtesy of a conceptual art project in Gothenburg, Sweden, which is looking for one employee to essentially do nothing beyond clocking in and out at a newly refurbished train station. The unconventional opportunity is full time and your only responsibilities are to show up to the Korsvägen train station to clock in and out. By clocking in, you turn on a set of lights over the station platform, and by clocking out, you turn them off. Otherwise, you don't even have to stick around the station and can pretty much spend your day doing whatever you want. The only stipulation is that you don't get another job. 

"The position holds no duties or responsibilities, other than that it should be carried out at Korsvägen," reads the official job description. "Whatever the employee chooses to do constitutes the work." Also, the job is open to anyone -- not just Swedes -- and is guaranteed for life.

In addition to doing whatever you want during the day, the gig also comes with other perks like vacation time, annual wage increases, and a pension for retirement. The only downside here is that they won't be accepting applications for the job until 2025, just before the Korsvägen train station is set to reopen. 

If you're curious how and why this became a job in the first place, it's a bit complicated. Back in 2017, officials put out a call to artists to pitch design ideas for the new train station, with the winning idea getting a $750,000 prize. That's when a pair of artists proposed this conceptual art piece, entitled "Eternal Employment," which is meant to be a critique of growing wealth disparities and monotonous work, accordingSF Gate.

"In the face of mass automation and artificial intelligence, the impending threat/promise is that we will all become productively superfluous," reads the proposal. "We will all be 'employed at Korsvägen', as it were." They also insist that the piece "not only offers a different understanding of work and the worker, but questions the very notions of growth, productivity and progress which are at the core of modernity."

The artists won over the judging panel and got the $750,000 prize, which they will use to pay whoever gets the job. The artists said they'll be investing it in equity funds to ensure they can afford to keep paying for the position for 120 years. 

Fortunately, you have some time to beef up your resume and consider whether you want to throw your hat in the ring. Sweden sure seems like a lovely place to live, though.

h/tSFGate


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Joe McGauley is a senior writer for Thrillist. Follow him @jwmcgauley.