I don't think that's the entirety of the problem. I mean, that may be part of the problem; those temp agencies take a nasty cut, but I am a temp worker going

I don't think that's the entirety of the problem. I mean, that may be part of the problem; those temp agencies take a nasty cut, but I am a temp worker going through an anonymous body shop, and I make pretty good money, like I can't contribute to a ROTH IRA good money. I mean, sure, I'd be making another 40% if I were a direct hire, but I interview pretty regularly for that sort of thing, and while I can reliably get contract gigs at top-tier companies, so far it appears that I don't meet the direct-hire bar for top-tier companies, and I'd kinda rather stick with the contract gig at a top tier company than a direct hire at the third tier down. Similar money, and the food and the company is better here. Also, they don't expect you to drink the kool-aid as much as a contractor, and I am kinda bad at consuming company kool-aid. (Note, that is a little bit of sour grapes... I think the primary thing keeping me out of direct hire positions at top-tier companies is my technical ability, which is improving... but the kool-aid factor is a big part of why I'd prefer to contract at a top-tier company than be a direct hire at some place that is not.) My point is just that the temp agencies are not the whole of the story here; for some reason, there's not enough demand for most kinds of labor to lift wages much above the statutory minimum. Why is this? We've got an oversupply of labor, why hasn't the market figured out how to use said labor?