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Because their productivity hasn’t increased as much as that of people with higher incomes. The productivity of surgeons and software developers increased signif

by mmarq 4y ago

Because their productivity hasn’t increased as much as that of people with higher incomes. The productivity of surgeons and software developers increased significantly, and so their incomes, while cleaners and factory workers are not much more productive than 60 years ago.

Ekaros 4y ago
How much more productive surgeons are? As in patients operated per working day or week? Outcomes surely have improved, but I'm wondering about speed in operation it self, not recovery.
- mmarq 4y ago
  If outcomes have improved, productivity has increased by definition. You don’t measure the productivity of people working in intellectual professions only by measuring units produced per day.
  - Ekaros 4y ago
    Actually I think you should when that work is not scalable. Surgeons can very well be measured by how many patients they operate on. And quality improvements are a thing, but how much more productive is there? 1,1x or 2x or 3x? Probably not magnitude more. So really their pay should only be that much more...
    - mmarq 4y ago
      If you can completely fix a hernia with 99% success at the first try without a hospital stay, you are significantly more productive than somebody that has a 50% success rate and that requires patients to stay in hospital for a week, even if you operate on the same number of patients.
- Dracophoenix 4y ago
  Speed of operation or lumps of labor per second is not the only applicable metric and, outside of certain cases, it's not a very good one. Average patient health (arguably an ill-defined term) has many ways of being assessed: * Fewer deaths from preventable diseases * Breakthroughs in pharmaceutical research production * New and improved medical devices to counter chronically debilitating sicknesses * An increase in elective surgeries with fewer long-term effects * Increased longevity across the globe
SahAssar 4y ago
I would absolutely say that a cleaner or factory worker today is much more productive than 60 years ago.

by mmarq 4y ago

Ekaros 4y ago

How much more productive surgeons are? As in patients operated per working day or week? Outcomes surely have improved, but I'm wondering about speed in operation it self, not recovery.

mmarq 4y ago
If outcomes have improved, productivity has increased by definition. You don’t measure the productivity of people working in intellectual professions only by measuring units produced per day.
- Ekaros 4y ago
  Actually I think you should when that work is not scalable. Surgeons can very well be measured by how many patients they operate on. And quality improvements are a thing, but how much more productive is there? 1,1x or 2x or 3x? Probably not magnitude more. So really their pay should only be that much more...
  - mmarq 4y ago
    If you can completely fix a hernia with 99% success at the first try without a hospital stay, you are significantly more productive than somebody that has a 50% success rate and that requires patients to stay in hospital for a week, even if you operate on the same number of patients.
Dracophoenix 4y ago
Speed of operation or lumps of labor per second is not the only applicable metric and, outside of certain cases, it's not a very good one. Average patient health (arguably an ill-defined term) has many ways of being assessed: * Fewer deaths from preventable diseases * Breakthroughs in pharmaceutical research production * New and improved medical devices to counter chronically debilitating sicknesses * An increase in elective surgeries with fewer long-term effects * Increased longevity across the globe

SahAssar 4y ago

I would absolutely say that a cleaner or factory worker today is much more productive than 60 years ago.