It’s striking to me how labor movements have seem to thrive after global conflicts. In the years that follow war, famine, and plague the power of organized labo

It’s striking to me how labor movements have seem to thrive after global conflicts. In the years that follow war, famine, and plague the power of organized labor grows, and it wanes during sustained periods of relative abundance. It seems like a case of simple supply and demand, ie a smaller workforce can command higher wages. However the effect seems a lot more pronounced than the raw numbers would dictate. For example the US lost 0.3% of its population to WW2. > During the 15 years from 1947 to 1962, the real hourly earnings of production or nonsupervisory workers in the private nonfarm economy, adjusted for overtime (in manufacturing only) and for interin- dustry employment shifts, increased at an average rate of 2.5 percent annually; the advance during the 14-year period from 1962 to 1976 averaged only 1.2 percent annually. The pandemic has taken 0.2% of US population thus far, yet wage growth is nearly 5% in the past 12 months, significantly outpacing inflation. ~50 years of relative peace and prosperity resulted in wage stagnation for workers. The death of organized labor was lamented, and many households struggled to keep pace with rising expenses. It’s as if there is a threshold of labor availability below which there is a dramatic increase in upward wage pressure. The threat of production not meeting sales demand is a powerful one.