3 ms·

You don't understand economics if you think that's what would happen. If women actually make 18% less purely because they're women, companies who realize this w

You don't understand economics if you think that's what would happen. If women actually make 18% less purely because they're women, companies who realize this will be able to hire well by paying women only 15% less. More people will catch on and see they can hire qualified women for only 12% less. And so on until the prevailing price represents something other than "just because they're women".

bjourne 13y ago
That's a circular argument. "If wage discrimination existed, then the magic market would have corrected it. Ergo wage discrimination cannot exist." All reports about employers exploiting immigrant labour is false too.
- dyno12345 13y ago
  It's a counterfactual argument, not a circular argument
- theorique 13y ago
  The lower price of (presumably illegal) immigrant labor has a structural difference - the idea is that both worker and employer are taking a risk by doing a transaction off the books. However, the employer has greater leverage because he can report the illegal to USCIS, whereas the illegal worker presumably has a precarious financial and social situation in the country and has to "take what he can get". Hence, there's a downward pressure on wages.
  - bjourne 13y ago
    Whether they are legal or illegal immigrants is irrelevant to the argument presented. The market should identify a "business opportunity" and push salaries upwards to an equilibrium.
    - theorique 13y ago
      I think we're agreeing with each other. There's no pure, efficient, "labor market" but instead lots of small, loosely connected "labor markets" with a variety of inefficiencies - lock-in, friction, imperfect information. An employer can exploit illegal immigrant labor because it tends to be concentrated in lower-skilled, relatively interchangeable jobs, and because illegal immigrants are in a difficult spot.

3 ms·

You don't understand economics if you think that's what would happen. If women actually make 18% less purely because they're women, companies who realize this w

by kevinpet 13y ago

bjourne 13y ago
That's a circular argument. "If wage discrimination existed, then the magic market would have corrected it. Ergo wage discrimination cannot exist." All reports about employers exploiting immigrant labour is false too.
- dyno12345 13y ago
  It's a counterfactual argument, not a circular argument
- theorique 13y ago
  The lower price of (presumably illegal) immigrant labor has a structural difference - the idea is that both worker and employer are taking a risk by doing a transaction off the books. However, the employer has greater leverage because he can report the illegal to USCIS, whereas the illegal worker presumably has a precarious financial and social situation in the country and has to "take what he can get". Hence, there's a downward pressure on wages.
  - bjourne 13y ago
    Whether they are legal or illegal immigrants is irrelevant to the argument presented. The market should identify a "business opportunity" and push salaries upwards to an equilibrium.
    - theorique 13y ago
      I think we're agreeing with each other. There's no pure, efficient, "labor market" but instead lots of small, loosely connected "labor markets" with a variety of inefficiencies - lock-in, friction, imperfect information. An employer can exploit illegal immigrant labor because it tends to be concentrated in lower-skilled, relatively interchangeable jobs, and because illegal immigrants are in a difficult spot.