2 ms·

>> it's just companies screeching that they are making less money because salaried employees are doing less unpaid work. That depends on how many of these jobs

>> it's just companies screeching that they are making less money because salaried employees are doing less unpaid work. That depends on how many of these jobs are positional and therefore cannot be easily supplemented. In my kneck of the woods we are having an issue with judges. There are only so many jobs for judges. But in recent years more than half of them switched to reduced hours. That lost time cannot be just replaced with a part-timer. This is probably true for many senior doctors too. Not every profession has a substitute pool of qualified people to step in every time a senior person decides to not work Fridays.

lumost 4y ago
> But more than half of them have switched to reduced hours. Why are they switching to reduced hours? This sounds like the value/output equation is out of line. Why not pay more, or hire more judges to reduce the workload?
- sandworm101 4y ago
  A judgeship is often a specific job. They are paid good money and, like tenured professors, cannot have their salary easily reduced. It's like being the mayor of a town. If a mayor wants to reduce their worked hours, you cannot just hire another one to make up the difference. Their income is protected. There can be only one.
  - Moissanite 4y ago
    The obvious answer to this is not to allow the reduced hours - either do the full job, or do something else. Not exactly progressive, but then there aren't many jobs with these special conditions, so that's fine.
    - sandworm101 4y ago
      >> not to allow the reduced hours Lol. Try telling a pregnant judge that she cannot reduce her in-the-office hours. Or a judge suffering long covid. Or an older judge with medical issues. The dynamic is very different when dealing with very senior and qualified people, especially ones unafraid of courtrooms. And any elected judges are basically untouchable.
      - Moissanite 4y ago
        This sounds like a specific cultural peculiarity - there should be no reason why judges aren't replaceable with temporary cover from further afield, or "understudies". I appreciate that might not be realistic in the US where judges are quasi-political figures, but that is a problem with your legal system, not a jobs problem.
  - dragonwriter 4y ago
    > If a mayor wants to reduce their worked hours, you cannot just hire another one to make up the difference. You can vote them out; judges can be imoeached for nonperformance. You can increase the number of positions for judges (mayors are obviously different) to account for trends in capacity, to the extent that the reduced hours are appropriate and nonabusive. Etc.
    - kaispowergoo 4y ago
      … or the Mayor could hire a more capable city manager.
kaispowergoo 4y ago
Is this artificial scarcity created by licensing associations?
- dmoy 4y ago
  For doctors, yes. For lawyers (the primary source of judges), not really. There is a scarcity of judges created by (lack of) funding for courts. Which effectively erodes people's sixth amendment rights too.

lumost 4y ago

> But more than half of them have switched to reduced hours. Why are they switching to reduced hours? This sounds like the value/output equation is out of line. Why not pay more, or hire more judges to reduce the workload?

sandworm101 4y ago
A judgeship is often a specific job. They are paid good money and, like tenured professors, cannot have their salary easily reduced. It's like being the mayor of a town. If a mayor wants to reduce their worked hours, you cannot just hire another one to make up the difference. Their income is protected. There can be only one.
- Moissanite 4y ago
  The obvious answer to this is not to allow the reduced hours - either do the full job, or do something else. Not exactly progressive, but then there aren't many jobs with these special conditions, so that's fine.
  - sandworm101 4y ago
    >> not to allow the reduced hours Lol. Try telling a pregnant judge that she cannot reduce her in-the-office hours. Or a judge suffering long covid. Or an older judge with medical issues. The dynamic is very different when dealing with very senior and qualified people, especially ones unafraid of courtrooms. And any elected judges are basically untouchable.
    - Moissanite 4y ago
      This sounds like a specific cultural peculiarity - there should be no reason why judges aren't replaceable with temporary cover from further afield, or "understudies". I appreciate that might not be realistic in the US where judges are quasi-political figures, but that is a problem with your legal system, not a jobs problem.
- dragonwriter 4y ago
  > If a mayor wants to reduce their worked hours, you cannot just hire another one to make up the difference. You can vote them out; judges can be imoeached for nonperformance. You can increase the number of positions for judges (mayors are obviously different) to account for trends in capacity, to the extent that the reduced hours are appropriate and nonabusive. Etc.
  - kaispowergoo 4y ago
    … or the Mayor could hire a more capable city manager.

kaispowergoo 4y ago

Is this artificial scarcity created by licensing associations?

dmoy 4y ago
For doctors, yes. For lawyers (the primary source of judges), not really. There is a scarcity of judges created by (lack of) funding for courts. Which effectively erodes people's sixth amendment rights too.