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If retail stores are making record breaking profits, why are service workers paid so little? If medical costs are so high, why aren't nurses and nurse aids maki
by joecot 4y ago
If retail stores are making record breaking profits, why are service workers paid so little? If medical costs are so high, why aren't nurses and nurse aids making more?
It's not rocket science. People aren't getting paid for the value of their labor, and productivity has rocketed up while wages have stagnated for decades. Your plumber charges 200 an hour and doesn't make anywhere near that much, because they work for a company who profits massively off their labor and exploits him as far as the law and supply and demand will allow.
- JumpCrisscross 4y ago> plumber charges 200 an hour and doesn't make anywhere near that much, because they work for a company who profits massively off their labor and exploits him as far as the law and supply and demand will allow Do most plumbers responding to house calls work for an employer? There aren't many economies of scale in that work.
- joecot 4y agoBeing a plumber who works for a company means you are given tasks and show up at those assignments. You need to know how to plumb. Being an independent plumber means handling: marketing, networking, customer service, etc, plus plumbing. Like any other freelance position it's not easy to break in and get enough work to live. And we're not in the days of people just opening the Yellow Pages and calling a random plumber. Now it's a labyrinth of competing search engine results, yelp reviews, HomeAdvisor references, etc. Some people will take the time to find an independent plumber. Most people call RotoRooter or whatever company has advertised the most in their area. The plumbers, electricians, handymen I call are all independent, but they're also old, at the end of their careers, having a set of regulars they could take with them going independent, and having saved a bunch of money because they were getting paid fair wages in their prime. There are economies of scale in the skilled trades, they're just not the trades themselves.
- JumpCrisscross 4y agoAgree that it isn't easy going independent as a plumber. But it's easier than in, say, construction. That leaves room for trade-offs between ambition and risk on one hand and a safe, secure job on the other hand.
- ajmurmann 4y agoSounds like more reason the call by many here to stop complaining and pay more seems spot on.