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I'd argue that flat wages are not (entirely) a failure of the labor market and are partly a consequence of modern life requiring less resources. Think about it
by sideband 11y ago
I'd argue that flat wages are not (entirely) a failure of the labor market and are partly a consequence of modern life requiring less resources.
Think about it: When was the last time you spent 15 minutes on the phone getting directions to someplace, got lost, had to find a payphone or stop places asking for directions, and then had to ask around to find somebody once you got there? Or paid a travel agent to plan your next vacation? Bought an expensive widget because at the only store you could find it at and were willing to drive to not knowing you could get it for half as much in the next state over? Used up a few hours looking for a specialty contractor in the newspaper classifieds or yellow pages and then had a bad experience because you had no way to know what their previous customers thought of them? These used to be very common experiences.
For many people in America, modern life requires far less time and money to be comfortable than it did just a few decades ago and as a result workers are seeing less and less incentive to push for higher wages.
- minikites 11y agoExcept the cost of necessities (energy, housing, etc) is still rising: http://www.mybudget360.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/college-tuition.png http://www.mybudget360.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/colleg... Computers and TVs are cheap but everything else is expensive.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- pjc50 11y agoless and less incentive to push for higher wages What's most people's biggest expenditure out of wages? Housing. Which has been increasing in price, both rental and purchase. Besides, higher wages are their own incentive. Nobody says "As a footballer/company director/etc I feel that a million pounds a week is enough, I'm not interested in a pay rise."
- sideband 11y agoFor most employed people, more pay == more work. And if their kids are fed and happy, if they get to do the things they love on the weekends, if their house is big enough for a shindig with the whole family, if they're comfortable, then the value of more work might not be apparent to them.
- pjc50 11y agoEh? More pay usually means more per hour/month, not an increase in hours worked.
- globuous 11y agoI'm not sure I'm convinced by your argument. Think about your cell phone, your cell phone bill, your TV & cable, internet bill, the few subscription services you use (netflix, spotify, etc. Although these pretty much replace libraries), laptop, apps the list goes on. There are so many things we buy now because we borderline rely on these to live that we just didn't need before on top of what we used to buy (housing, car, fuel, electricity, food, etc). What's great though is that although the price of life has probably gone up over the past few years, sharing is becoming the new norm: a place to stay, a ride in an airplane, clothing, a car ride etc etc. But in the end, I'm still not convinced the price of modern life requires less resources.
- jazzyk 11y agoYou must not be from around here :-) The cost of the most significant expenses in family budgets: housing, healthcare and education has been rising far, far above (10-15%) the official rate of inflation (2-3%) for years now. These cost increases have been "remedied" by providing semi-cheap debt (housing and education) and tax breaks (healthcare). Not sustainable.