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Lorry drivers getting 40% higher pay: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-58409277 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwi

Lorry drivers getting 40% higher pay: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-58409277 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-... In fact I can see this happening across many industries, and if you are one of those people working minimum wage can only be a good thing? The import of cheap labour does push down the wages of the working class - so the middle/upper classes get to buy cheaper fruit... I believe farmers will have to work with this new "normal", and it'll take a few years for them to figure out how to cope.

deleted 5y ago
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quickthrower2 5y ago
Wonder if it will cause high inflation, and if that’ll force up interest rates
- codegrappler 5y ago
  It certainly feels that way. Businesses can’t find workers, so wages increase, costs are passed on to consumers, prices inflate…
- pibechorro 5y ago
  It will. And they will avoid at all costs to raise it, for higher interest rates will default everyone over leveraged, which is everything and everyone at this point outside of the preppers and Libertarian types which have been yelling about this for a long time now.
thomasz 5y ago
It's not like the working class doesn't have to eat. In fact, they will be hit hardest by increasing food prices. > Indication of some degree of food insecurity was reported by 14.2% of the sample and tended to be higher amongst younger age groups, those on lower incomes, and home renters (as opposed to owners). https://academic.oup.com/jpubhealth/advance-article/doi/10.1093/pubmed/fdab120/6232493 https://academic.oup.com/jpubhealth/advance-article/doi/10.1... I somewhat doubt that we're talking about upper/middle classes here.
- CodeGlitch 5y ago
  True - but other aspects of your running costs (electricity, gas, rent, etc) will not increase, as I don't believe they depend on cheap labour. Interestingly (can't find the reference right now), I've read that the high cost of labour in the UK contributed to the push for mechanisation of farming, which resulted in the industrial revolution (something we have all benefited from). In China, labour costs were (are?) so low that there was no reason to invent a farming machine, when you could pay a peasant to do the job for less. So if this runs long term, we will see further automation of farming?
  - neilwilson 5y ago
    The UK will need to adopt the approaches in farming taken by the Dutch amongst others. The crops planted will be the ones more amenable to automation.
  - Scoundreller 5y ago
    Or just better distribution. It’s not hard for an Apple picker to pick a few dollars worth of apples per minute at harvest time, but that’s the supermarket price, not what the farmer can sell them off for per bushel. I know picking isn’t the only cost, but it seems like the cost of picking doubling or trebling should have minute effect on profitability. Farmers need to get better at capturing the price that consumers are willing to pay. Somehow, farmers markets have become the place to pay premium prices instead of lower prices. Or convince consumers that a bit of scab on an apple is fine to eat and doesn’t need to be destined to make sauce or juice.
- nicoburns 5y ago
  Not if their wages grow in line with the increases.
  - xienze 5y ago
    Yes, "if". The problem is that companies don't move in lockstep with the broader economy, so it might take a year or two of food and goods increasing in price 12% before your company has managed to give you a 5% raise, which in turn requires them to raise the prices of their goods. And hopefully _their_ customers don't balk at the increased price because _they_ haven't yet been able to absorb their own set of wage increases.
spywaregorilla 5y ago
A guy driving a truck might enable 10,000 burger sales in an hour. A cashier might enable 100. It's easier to raise the truck driver's wage. Raising wages and prices can be done, of course. But if you're planning to export those goods to other countries, you've just made your products more expensive. If your goods are fungible, you may not be able to raise the price at all. Higher wages might simply make your business not viable in the context of international trade.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

quickthrower2 5y ago

Wonder if it will cause high inflation, and if that’ll force up interest rates

codegrappler 5y ago
It certainly feels that way. Businesses can’t find workers, so wages increase, costs are passed on to consumers, prices inflate…
pibechorro 5y ago
It will. And they will avoid at all costs to raise it, for higher interest rates will default everyone over leveraged, which is everything and everyone at this point outside of the preppers and Libertarian types which have been yelling about this for a long time now.

thomasz 5y ago

It's not like the working class doesn't have to eat. In fact, they will be hit hardest by increasing food prices. > Indication of some degree of food insecurity was reported by 14.2% of the sample and tended to be higher amongst younger age groups, those on lower incomes, and home renters (as opposed to owners). https://academic.oup.com/jpubhealth/advance-article/doi/10.1093/pubmed/fdab120/6232493 https://academic.oup.com/jpubhealth/advance-article/doi/10.1... I somewhat doubt that we're talking about upper/middle classes here.

CodeGlitch 5y ago
True - but other aspects of your running costs (electricity, gas, rent, etc) will not increase, as I don't believe they depend on cheap labour. Interestingly (can't find the reference right now), I've read that the high cost of labour in the UK contributed to the push for mechanisation of farming, which resulted in the industrial revolution (something we have all benefited from). In China, labour costs were (are?) so low that there was no reason to invent a farming machine, when you could pay a peasant to do the job for less. So if this runs long term, we will see further automation of farming?
- neilwilson 5y ago
  The UK will need to adopt the approaches in farming taken by the Dutch amongst others. The crops planted will be the ones more amenable to automation.
- Scoundreller 5y ago
  Or just better distribution. It’s not hard for an Apple picker to pick a few dollars worth of apples per minute at harvest time, but that’s the supermarket price, not what the farmer can sell them off for per bushel. I know picking isn’t the only cost, but it seems like the cost of picking doubling or trebling should have minute effect on profitability. Farmers need to get better at capturing the price that consumers are willing to pay. Somehow, farmers markets have become the place to pay premium prices instead of lower prices. Or convince consumers that a bit of scab on an apple is fine to eat and doesn’t need to be destined to make sauce or juice.
nicoburns 5y ago
Not if their wages grow in line with the increases.
- xienze 5y ago
  Yes, "if". The problem is that companies don't move in lockstep with the broader economy, so it might take a year or two of food and goods increasing in price 12% before your company has managed to give you a 5% raise, which in turn requires them to raise the prices of their goods. And hopefully _their_ customers don't balk at the increased price because _they_ haven't yet been able to absorb their own set of wage increases.

spywaregorilla 5y ago

A guy driving a truck might enable 10,000 burger sales in an hour. A cashier might enable 100. It's easier to raise the truck driver's wage. Raising wages and prices can be done, of course. But if you're planning to export those goods to other countries, you've just made your products more expensive. If your goods are fungible, you may not be able to raise the price at all. Higher wages might simply make your business not viable in the context of international trade.