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The term for this is called "labor mobility". Instead of increasing commute times, more typically it involves simply not taking jobs that are further away. Re
by nerfhammer 9y ago
The term for this is called "labor mobility".
Instead of increasing commute times, more typically it involves simply not taking jobs that are further away.
Restricting labor mobility is really bad for obvious reasons: people not being able to move where the jobs are means jobs not being filled even as unemployment increases. There is overwhelming evidence that labor mobility has gotten drastically worse in recent decades, and local NIMBYism is one of the major causes: http://neighborhoodeffects.mercatus.org/2017/01/26/why-the-lack-of-labor-mobility-in-the-u-s-is-a-problem-and-how-we-can-fix-it/ http://neighborhoodeffects.mercatus.org/2017/01/26/why-the-l...
Compare this to China, which has had tens of millions of people flock to brand new megacities for the new job opportunities there.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoChina is a bad example with its hukou system in place. Sure you can migrate to the city for a better job but you have to leave your kids behind (no public school without hukou). Labor mobility but at great costs.
- adrianratnapala 9y agoChina is a bad example of a place getting policy right to favour labour mobility. It is an extreme example of a place where labour mobility is so valuable it happens in spite of restraints. In fact it is so extreme that it is hard to draw lessons for modern western countries (although it has obvious resemblances to urbanisation in Europe a few centuries ago).
- klipt 9y agoSeems comparable to immigration controls between countries.
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoIt’s more comparable to the movement controls of apartheid.
- klipt 9y agoArguably, immigration controls are also similar to the movement controls of Apartheid. They're just more socially acceptable because pretty much every country does it.
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoSure. But discriminating on your own citizens based on where they were born (or where their parents were born in china’s case) is extra douchey.
- klipt 9y agoI believe you can change Hukou after a few years so it's not strictly where they were born. Many American state universities discriminate against students based on where their parents live (e.g. charging in-state vs out-of-state tuition).
- seanmcdirmid 9y agoA. Yes but it’s very hard. You have to marry in it or be a grad from a good university in a good major. B. Yes, but you easily get residence by living there for less than a year. Also,public K12 schools can’t discriminate like they do in china.
- xster 9y agoCouple the labour immobility with capital extreme mobility and you get the capitalist's wet dream: lower labour costs.
- sokoloff 9y agoAre we seeing low labor costs in San Francisco area?
- xster 9y agoI was just talking about the macro level Washington Consensus capital/labour trade mobility. i.e. I'm comparing the lower labour cost of the west in general vs the west before the 70s. https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/ https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/ If you want to deep dive into a present county per county labour cost specifically, then I'd argue yes as well http://projects.sfchronicle.com/2016/teacher-pay/ http://projects.sfchronicle.com/2016/teacher-pay/ Anaheim teachers make ~50% more than SF teachers and spend 4 times less proportion of their income on rent.
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- walshemj 9y agoah but in china not every one is allowed to move to the cities so you get an underclass who work in eh black/grey economy and are paid less because their employer can have them deported
- ximeng 9y agoBeijing has just announced a population cap