4 ms·

>My working-class father, twice, was working for a union and was forced to stop working for strikes, unpaid. And how appreciative were you of the higher earnin

>My working-class father, twice, was working for a union and was forced to stop working for strikes, unpaid. And how appreciative were you of the higher earnings yielded from him having a union that was actually prepared to strike? >Obviously America is more pro-business than most of Europe. Hence why average American wages are in decline while the 1% have gotten wealthier and wealthier and wealthier.

pc86 10y ago
I don't think the extra $0.75 an hour or so compared to the non-union companies was doing us any favors. Not to mention the large percentage of that difference that went to union dues.
- cmrdporcupine 10y ago
  When I worked as a union employee in a grocery store (cleaning toilets, mopping up spills) my union fees were $12 a month. I got paid $1.75/hour more than minimum wage, which is what people doing my job elsewhere would have gotten. Back then in Alberta minimum wage was $5 an hour, and I got $6.75 So even at the 15-20 hours a week I worked back then, that seems like a pretty good deal as I made back the union dues in a week. Not to mention the additional protections I got. And that was a pretty shitty union and a pretty shitty job.
yummyfajitas 10y ago
Inequality is falling, not rising, due mainly to increasing incomes at the bottom. http://www.maxroser.com/economic-world-history-in-one-chart/ http://www.maxroser.com/economic-world-history-in-one-chart/ Wages within the US are in decline because of a shift to non-wage benefits. Worker compensation has done nothing but increase, there are just a bunch of laws (e.g. Obamacare) making it optimal for companies not to increase wages. https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/COMPRNFB https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/COMPRNFB The same trend towards within-country inequality can be seen in Europe, so any US-specific explanation is simply incorrect.
- crdoconnor 10y ago
  >Inequality is falling, not rising, due mainly to increasing incomes at the bottom. When you're not cherry picking data, not so much: https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kW362RyS95U/Tz7u6cqfuTI/AAAAAAAAARw/SidNSQHZSIg/s1600/Ginicoefworld_0001.jpg https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kW362RyS95U/Tz7u6cqfuTI/AAAAAAAAA... >Wages within the US are in decline because of a shift to non-wage benefits. Median/below median wages are in decline in the US, period. Healthcare, education and housing costs have also gone up massively (with no commensurate increase in quality). >there are just a bunch of laws (e.g. Obamacare) making it optimal for companies not to increase wages. There is absolutely no sane economic explanation why Obamacare would prevent companies from raising wages.
  - matstroller 10y ago
    > When you're not cherry picking data, not so much: It's hard to see why "one country, one datapoint" would be more relevant than weighing all persons equally. > There is absolutely no sane economic explanation why Obamacare would prevent companies from raising wages. Of course it doesn't prevent that. It simply makes more convenient to raise non-monetary compensation.
  - yummyfajitas 10y ago
    Median/below median wages are in decline in the US, period. Healthcare,... It's completely nonsensical to adjust wages for the cost of healthcare when healthcare is primarily paid by non-wage benefits. It's also nonsensical to ignore total comp and focus on wages, unless of course you are cherrypicking. Matstroller has effectively addressed your other issues, so I feel no need to. Note also that Branko Milanovic - the source of your graph - explicitly says that global income inequality is decreasing in his book. From a book review: "Milanovic, like Bourguignon, stresses one encouraging fact. While inequality is rising within most countries, notably the high-income ones, global inequality of incomes, though huge, has been falling, particularly since 2000." http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/13603aa2-0185-11e6-ac98-3c15a1aa2e62.html#axzz48qeN6skc http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/13603aa2-0185-11e6-ac98-3c15a1aa2e...
    - 10y ago

pc86 10y ago

I don't think the extra $0.75 an hour or so compared to the non-union companies was doing us any favors. Not to mention the large percentage of that difference that went to union dues.

cmrdporcupine 10y ago
When I worked as a union employee in a grocery store (cleaning toilets, mopping up spills) my union fees were $12 a month. I got paid $1.75/hour more than minimum wage, which is what people doing my job elsewhere would have gotten. Back then in Alberta minimum wage was $5 an hour, and I got $6.75 So even at the 15-20 hours a week I worked back then, that seems like a pretty good deal as I made back the union dues in a week. Not to mention the additional protections I got. And that was a pretty shitty union and a pretty shitty job.

yummyfajitas 10y ago

Inequality is falling, not rising, due mainly to increasing incomes at the bottom. http://www.maxroser.com/economic-world-history-in-one-chart/ http://www.maxroser.com/economic-world-history-in-one-chart/ Wages within the US are in decline because of a shift to non-wage benefits. Worker compensation has done nothing but increase, there are just a bunch of laws (e.g. Obamacare) making it optimal for companies not to increase wages. https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/COMPRNFB https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/COMPRNFB The same trend towards within-country inequality can be seen in Europe, so any US-specific explanation is simply incorrect.

crdoconnor 10y ago
>Inequality is falling, not rising, due mainly to increasing incomes at the bottom. When you're not cherry picking data, not so much: https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kW362RyS95U/Tz7u6cqfuTI/AAAAAAAAARw/SidNSQHZSIg/s1600/Ginicoefworld_0001.jpg https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kW362RyS95U/Tz7u6cqfuTI/AAAAAAAAA... >Wages within the US are in decline because of a shift to non-wage benefits. Median/below median wages are in decline in the US, period. Healthcare, education and housing costs have also gone up massively (with no commensurate increase in quality). >there are just a bunch of laws (e.g. Obamacare) making it optimal for companies not to increase wages. There is absolutely no sane economic explanation why Obamacare would prevent companies from raising wages.
- matstroller 10y ago
  > When you're not cherry picking data, not so much: It's hard to see why "one country, one datapoint" would be more relevant than weighing all persons equally. > There is absolutely no sane economic explanation why Obamacare would prevent companies from raising wages. Of course it doesn't prevent that. It simply makes more convenient to raise non-monetary compensation.
- yummyfajitas 10y ago
  Median/below median wages are in decline in the US, period. Healthcare,... It's completely nonsensical to adjust wages for the cost of healthcare when healthcare is primarily paid by non-wage benefits. It's also nonsensical to ignore total comp and focus on wages, unless of course you are cherrypicking. Matstroller has effectively addressed your other issues, so I feel no need to. Note also that Branko Milanovic - the source of your graph - explicitly says that global income inequality is decreasing in his book. From a book review: "Milanovic, like Bourguignon, stresses one encouraging fact. While inequality is rising within most countries, notably the high-income ones, global inequality of incomes, though huge, has been falling, particularly since 2000." http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/13603aa2-0185-11e6-ac98-3c15a1aa2e62.html#axzz48qeN6skc http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/13603aa2-0185-11e6-ac98-3c15a1aa2e...
  - 10y ago