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What are you missing? I don't know. I'm assuming this is a US thing? Because we've had this in Belgium for at least as long as I've been alive. My pay automatic

by elric 5y ago

What are you missing? I don't know. I'm assuming this is a US thing? Because we've had this in Belgium for at least as long as I've been alive. My pay automatically went up by ~3.5% this month. It's required by law (mostly, it's complicated). The actual percentage depends on a number of factors, as does the frequency, but for people in tech it tends to be an an annual affair. It's not a perfect system, but it works reasonably well, even if it does somewhat disadvantage people with lower wages.

giantg2 5y ago
I'm in the US and have a similar experience as the poster.
pirate787 5y ago
These across-the-board mandated policies do impose a cost, they make the economy as a whole less flexible and decrease employment, at the margin. For example, Belgium has both higher unemployment and lower per capita income than the United States.
- elric 5y ago
  Sure they have a cost, but you fail to mention the benefits. We have a lot less poverty and far fewer people having to work a second job to make ends meet. You win some, you lose some.
- etripe 5y ago
  > higher unemployment Yes, but the US also measures unemployment differently. People are culled from those statistics much faster in the US than in Belgium. > lower per capita income True, but that's not caused by indexation of wages (COLA) alone - I'm not even sure it's a statistically that significant. It's down to a combination of factors, such as market size, startup culture, taxation, social welfare... > These across-the-board mandated policies do impose a cost, they make the economy as a whole less flexible and decrease employment, at the margin. The Belgian economy is less flexible by default, because it's constrained by three languages, seven governments, a total area slightly larger than Maryland and a population roughly equal to Ohio's. Whether it's a cost is debatable, if Belgians on average live almost three years longer, on average have cheaper and better education, etc. If you compare the quality of life [0], Belgium is ahead of the US in many metrics except precisely cost of living,, housing size and wage. All I'm saying is: economical statistics don't paint the whole picture. 0: https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/belgium/ https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/belgium/

by elric 5y ago

giantg2 5y ago

I'm in the US and have a similar experience as the poster.

pirate787 5y ago

These across-the-board mandated policies do impose a cost, they make the economy as a whole less flexible and decrease employment, at the margin. For example, Belgium has both higher unemployment and lower per capita income than the United States.

elric 5y ago
Sure they have a cost, but you fail to mention the benefits. We have a lot less poverty and far fewer people having to work a second job to make ends meet. You win some, you lose some.
etripe 5y ago
> higher unemployment Yes, but the US also measures unemployment differently. People are culled from those statistics much faster in the US than in Belgium. > lower per capita income True, but that's not caused by indexation of wages (COLA) alone - I'm not even sure it's a statistically that significant. It's down to a combination of factors, such as market size, startup culture, taxation, social welfare... > These across-the-board mandated policies do impose a cost, they make the economy as a whole less flexible and decrease employment, at the margin. The Belgian economy is less flexible by default, because it's constrained by three languages, seven governments, a total area slightly larger than Maryland and a population roughly equal to Ohio's. Whether it's a cost is debatable, if Belgians on average live almost three years longer, on average have cheaper and better education, etc. If you compare the quality of life [0], Belgium is ahead of the US in many metrics except precisely cost of living,, housing size and wage. All I'm saying is: economical statistics don't paint the whole picture. 0: https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/belgium/ https://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/countries/belgium/