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Doesn't the timeline coincide with women entering the workforce (increasingly after WW2) and massive immigration to the US (after the Immigration and Nationalit
by blfr 11y ago
Doesn't the timeline coincide with women entering the workforce (increasingly after WW2) and massive immigration to the US (after the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965)? Basically, a large influx of (at least potential) workers increased the supply and lowered the price (in wages and benefits employees could demand) of labour.
There are other effects, like specialization, which make consultants much more effective at certain tasks with which regular employees don't have a chance to build experience. However, like lowered transaction costs, I don't think this is crucial.
- jpatokal 11y agoMassive immigration to the US far predates 1965. Read eg. Upton Sinclair's The Jungle (1906) for a glimpse into how new immigrants were treated around the turn of the century.
- blfr 11y agoYes but in the 1920s strict limits on immigration were enacted. Only after that did these large companies arise. Then the limits were basically lifted in 1968, right before the beginning of the trend article describes.