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> Apparently, the mishandling of the pandemic in the US has broken the system that kept the workers oppressed, and firmly under the thumb of the donor class. T

> Apparently, the mishandling of the pandemic in the US has broken the system that kept the workers oppressed, and firmly under the thumb of the donor class. That’s quite a leap. These people aren’t quitting their jobs and exiting the workforce. They’re looking for other jobs that might have incrementally better pay. This is a combined result of inflationary pressures, a booming economy, and a lot of people who have been removed from the workforce for a variety of reasons (COVID, enhanced and extended unemployment, needing to stay home and care for kids). I don’t think there’s much evidence that this is some overarching societal shift or rising up of the working class. It’s just standard, expected behavior in low unemployment, high inflation environments. The supply of jobs exceeds the supply of workers, for now at least. The situation will change again when the supply and demand shifts in the other direction.

8ytecoder 5y ago
The unemployment benefits were better than what a lot of service workers were getting paid and so people didn’t want to return. Meanwhile economy was reopening and employers needed workers- the same people who laid them off. Forced unemployment means the inertia is broken. That and the clarity to rethink a clear career path definitely affected more than quite a few Then there’s remote/wfh workers. With more companies adopting wfh and some high profile companies not wanting to adopt it, the right incentives are created to job hop. The vacancies created have to be filled and the spiral starts. In both these instances, breaking the inertia is enough to disrupt this fragile balance that companies were exploiting to keep wages and salaries down. When the line breaks (a few companies caving), the entire defence that “this is what market pays” comes crumbling down.
- PragmaticPulp 5y ago
  > In both these instances, breaking the inertia is enough to disrupt this fragile balance that companies were exploiting to keep wages and salaries down. When the line breaks (a few companies caving), the entire defence that “this is what market pays” comes crumbling down. You’ve got it backwards. The concept of “market rate” is at the core of why this is happening in the first place. Market rate is going up, which is driving these changes. Market rate isn’t a myth that business owners use to suppress wages. It’s literally just the rate that the market will bear for a given type of labor. Supply and demand of labor and jobs shifts this point around like any other supply/demand curve.
  - 8ytecoder 5y ago
    "Market rate" can and will be low because it's not in the interest of any one company to increase the wages - even if that means the wages are exploitative. Same goes for child labor, off-shoring jobs, environmental damage, ...etc. It's this external factor - pandemic driven layoffs and benefits - that's driving the change.
    - sam345 5y ago
      Actually supply and demand usually rules Pandemic or no pandemic. E.g., : 1) if you want better workers and skilled worker supply is limited, you pay more than the other guy, so wages go up. 2) As wages go up more people are motivated to get trained in that skill. Eventually more workers available and supply of workers goes up. If demand stays the same, wages go down as employers don't have to pay as much to fill positions. 3) Less motivation to get trained in that skill so less workers. Repeat 1.
- ineedasername 5y ago
  I'm setting up to hire right now but a few weeks ago the HR "compensation analyst" would only approve a lower salary range. Skip to a few days ago when I got final approval for the position and HR calls me up to say they think the salary range is too low because they have had problems filling jobs, "would you consider raising the salary range." So I did-- back to what I originally requested.
gruez 5y ago
>That’s quite a leap. These people aren’t quitting their jobs and exiting the workforce. labor force participation rate is still down. See: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28215646 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28215646 >based on data from eight countries, is that employment in the rich world is 3% below its pre-pandemic high
- PragmaticPulp 5y ago
  > labor force participation rate is still down. Right, but we’re talking about the people who are job hopping (the context of this article) for higher salaries. The people who haven’t rejoined the workforce yet would be forced to do so if the inflationary trend continues.
syshum 5y ago
>a booming economy The economy was given a massive dose of Radiation and is currently in the walking Ghost phase.... it is not "booming" it is a false rebound propped up by money printer go brrrr and when reality sets in 2008 is going to look like a beach vacation...

8ytecoder 5y ago

The unemployment benefits were better than what a lot of service workers were getting paid and so people didn’t want to return. Meanwhile economy was reopening and employers needed workers- the same people who laid them off. Forced unemployment means the inertia is broken. That and the clarity to rethink a clear career path definitely affected more than quite a few Then there’s remote/wfh workers. With more companies adopting wfh and some high profile companies not wanting to adopt it, the right incentives are created to job hop. The vacancies created have to be filled and the spiral starts. In both these instances, breaking the inertia is enough to disrupt this fragile balance that companies were exploiting to keep wages and salaries down. When the line breaks (a few companies caving), the entire defence that “this is what market pays” comes crumbling down.

PragmaticPulp 5y ago
> In both these instances, breaking the inertia is enough to disrupt this fragile balance that companies were exploiting to keep wages and salaries down. When the line breaks (a few companies caving), the entire defence that “this is what market pays” comes crumbling down. You’ve got it backwards. The concept of “market rate” is at the core of why this is happening in the first place. Market rate is going up, which is driving these changes. Market rate isn’t a myth that business owners use to suppress wages. It’s literally just the rate that the market will bear for a given type of labor. Supply and demand of labor and jobs shifts this point around like any other supply/demand curve.
- 8ytecoder 5y ago
  "Market rate" can and will be low because it's not in the interest of any one company to increase the wages - even if that means the wages are exploitative. Same goes for child labor, off-shoring jobs, environmental damage, ...etc. It's this external factor - pandemic driven layoffs and benefits - that's driving the change.
  - sam345 5y ago
    Actually supply and demand usually rules Pandemic or no pandemic. E.g., : 1) if you want better workers and skilled worker supply is limited, you pay more than the other guy, so wages go up. 2) As wages go up more people are motivated to get trained in that skill. Eventually more workers available and supply of workers goes up. If demand stays the same, wages go down as employers don't have to pay as much to fill positions. 3) Less motivation to get trained in that skill so less workers. Repeat 1.
ineedasername 5y ago
I'm setting up to hire right now but a few weeks ago the HR "compensation analyst" would only approve a lower salary range. Skip to a few days ago when I got final approval for the position and HR calls me up to say they think the salary range is too low because they have had problems filling jobs, "would you consider raising the salary range." So I did-- back to what I originally requested.

gruez 5y ago

>That’s quite a leap. These people aren’t quitting their jobs and exiting the workforce. labor force participation rate is still down. See: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28215646 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28215646 >based on data from eight countries, is that employment in the rich world is 3% below its pre-pandemic high

PragmaticPulp 5y ago
> labor force participation rate is still down. Right, but we’re talking about the people who are job hopping (the context of this article) for higher salaries. The people who haven’t rejoined the workforce yet would be forced to do so if the inflationary trend continues.

syshum 5y ago

>a booming economy The economy was given a massive dose of Radiation and is currently in the walking Ghost phase.... it is not "booming" it is a false rebound propped up by money printer go brrrr and when reality sets in 2008 is going to look like a beach vacation...