Star Trek and the Social Economics of a Post-Scarcity Earth
TL;DR Earth is a highly individualist society that maintains cohesion through passive exclusion. (The exact opposite would be the Borg's extremely collectivist society that maintains cohesion through aggressive inclusion.)
So it’s canon that there's a steady stream of people leaving Earth more-or-less permanently to live on distant colony planets IN SPITE of the fact that Earth is the perfect place for humans to live. Which leads me to conclude that resources (or at the very least, real estate) are in fact limited; and in order to keep up the illusion of uninhibited prosperity, various means (propaganda, social coercion) are used to keep Earth's population below a certain figure. For example: People who want to have large families are given incentive to homestead offworld. People with chronic disabilities are encouraged to get the best treatment possible- in facilities that happen to be offworld. Scientists doing the kind of research that is dangerous and maybe unethical are encouraged to do it offworld and out of sight. People who exhibit antisocial/criminal behavior are sent offworld to penal colonies.
I think the most common method of getting people to move away is simply to set the bar really high and make competition very stiff. For example: maybe a hundred people want to be physicians but there are only positions/work available for thirty physicians. All 100 of these people genuinely want to do the work and are willing to put in the insane amount of time and energy it takes to become doctors but only a third of them will be able to practice medicine on Earth in any real capacity. This might be true of pretty much every profession on the planet (lots of teachers, not as many classrooms. lots of musicians, not as many concert halls. lots of athletes, not as many sports teams) so the ones who aren't the best of the best end up going elsewhere in order to pursue their vocations.
As for the average Joe? Since no one has to work and everyone is guaranteed never to need anything- Joe can devote his life to building model ships and never go hungry, be cold, or ill. Joe could just build model ships and live on the basic pension, in basic housing, wearing basic clothes. Life on Earth might seem very bland to Joe and very much less than ideal. Average Joe with no appreciable talents and no true passions might easily be convinced that life on a colony is more interesting/challenging/enjoyable.
Opposite this stream of emigration is the potential for upward mobility.
Average Joe might decide that he isn’t content with living at the basic level. Joe raises people’s interest in model ships by giving some away to well-connected people, reserving space for a small showing, offering tutorials, etc. One of Joe’s creations might be given to Captain Picard who decides to commission other models which he gives as gifts to alien ambassadors. Joe becomes known as Model Ship Joe. Joe suddenly has friends who are tailors (he no longer has to wear simple clothing) and friends who are artisan bakers (he no longer has to eat replicated food). He now has the social leverage to get on the shortlist for a bigger apartment in a building with a recreational holodeck. Joe has moved up in the world.
This economic system creates a whole class of artisans and artists. It’s is a really cool thing in some respects and kind of uncanny. Since Earth’s major exports are art, and literature- one can arguably say that this artisan class is Earth’s working class.
The true currency of a post-scarcity economy is the Social Connection.
If Joe’s abilities are similar to those of his parents, he might come into his profession with a ready-made set of connections. Joe’s parents might even encourage him to study something similar to their own interests. The largely home-taught nature of education offworld might factor into the trend of family members in similar vocations. (Having a parent in Starfleet seems to be commonplace for many Starfleet personnel.) If Model Ship Joe had an uncle Model Car Guy then Joe would have an easier time raising interest in his work than if his parents were both lab assistants. So in this sense, one’s “inheritance” is a genuine advantage.
