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Low unemployment isn’t worth much if the jobs barely pay

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Re: Low unemployment isn’t worth much if the jobs barely pay

#51

Post by HenryKissinger »

dcolkitt wrote: post #45
jkoudys wrote: post #22

America has a weird sense of superiority about its lower unemployment numbers vs Canada. The difference is the US, you basically need a job, or else you're one broken ankle, complex childbirth, or infected hangnail away from complete financial ruin. People being able to take extra time to find the right job is a good thing for the economy. Better than being driven by an abject fear of not having a job.

Your hypothesis does not hold up to the data. The unemployed in Canada experience the same penalty in life satisfaction as the unemployed in the United States: > On average, the unemployed experience lower life satisfaction than the employed by about 0.3 standard deviations in Canada and the United States, by 0.32 standard deviations in the United Kingdom and by 0.47 standard deviations in Germany.[1] Your claims rel…

Health care is not tied to employment in Canada, for one.

Re: Low unemployment isn’t worth much if the jobs barely pay

#52

Post by wavefunction »

supernova87a wrote: post #36

I don't think low unemployment is the unequivocal positive sign that politicians/ think it is ("We're putting millions of Americans back to work!"). Maybe it's not something to be so proud of. If people are having to come out of the woodwork to take jobs that aren't moving the average wage up, maybe they're doing it because they have to, in order to get by. Is it a good thing that a 60+ year old goes back to work at…

That or all the people working multiple of these mcjobs. If one job were enough for every American to at least provide for their basic needs and some reasonable leisures then I might be impressed by low unemployment.

Re: Low unemployment isn’t worth much if the jobs barely pay

#54

Post by jfk13 »

throw0x1away wrote: post #35
aldoushuxley001 wrote: post #13

Similarly, minimum wage isn’t worth much if there’s high unemployment

minimum wage isn’t worth much. period. These regulations upon regulations, shitty policies and "governing" from socialists are killing the market and gotta stop. It's dumb to interfere with the market and dictate how much your skills are worth. USSR as a reference? We know what financial top-down planning and dictatorship does to countries. Minimum wage should be abolished.

"The market" is not some all-powerful, benevolent force that will always achieve the best outcome for humanity or society as a whole. Markets are disproportionately controlled by the current holders of wealth (and therefore power), who will naturally tend to seek their own advantage at the expense of others. And so some kinds of regulation are often appropriate to protect the less powerful participants.

Re: Low unemployment isn’t worth much if the jobs barely pay

#55

Post by koheripbal »

jkoudys wrote: post #22

America has a weird sense of superiority about its lower unemployment numbers vs Canada. The difference is the US, you basically need a job, or else you're one broken ankle, complex childbirth, or infected hangnail away from complete financial ruin. People being able to take extra time to find the right job is a good thing for the economy. Better than being driven by an abject fear of not having a job.

Unemployment is defined as the percentage of people employed of those who WANT to work.

It does not count those taking time off.

That would be the UNDERemployment rate.

Re: Low unemployment isn’t worth much if the jobs barely pay

#56

Post by totalthrowaway »

brightball wrote: post #38
totalthrowaway wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have to take a bus for an hour to get to your four-hour shift at a stressful minimum wage job, where your manager is abusive and the workplace is unsafe, your mental health may suffer. Meaningful work, or contributing to the wellbeing of those around you -- that would be a worthwhile goal. Suffering just so your family isn't hungry is a harder sell. Inevitably, someone will say they should just learn skills fr…

Nobody should be taking a bus for an hour to a minimum wage job. One of the reasons a job is MW is that they are everywhere. You don’t commute that far for minimum wage.

If you don't have a car, and the bus runs infrequently, I bet many people spend an hour getting somewhere.

Anecdote, not data, but

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/economy/low-pay-long-p...

You could argue the person in the story should get jobs closer to home, but it is probably more common than you think.

Re: Low unemployment isn’t worth much if the jobs barely pay

#57

Post by fredgrott »

we have a problem world wide

When US Fed pours money in to unwind mortgage positions over a 30 year period(fall 2008 till fall 2038) barriers arise for job movement in form of high costs of rent or homeownership.

Its not going away and its going to get worse.

Re: Low unemployment isn’t worth much if the jobs barely pay

#58

Post by thaniri »

brightball wrote: post #38
totalthrowaway wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have to take a bus for an hour to get to your four-hour shift at a stressful minimum wage job, where your manager is abusive and the workplace is unsafe, your mental health may suffer. Meaningful work, or contributing to the wellbeing of those around you -- that would be a worthwhile goal. Suffering just so your family isn't hungry is a harder sell. Inevitably, someone will say they should just learn skills fr…

Nobody should be taking a bus for an hour to a minimum wage job. One of the reasons a job is MW is that they are everywhere. You don’t commute that far for minimum wage.

Anecdotally, this is not true.

Due to how many North American cities are designed with urban sprawl and separation of living areas (suburbs) and productive areas (industrial/office zoning laws) it should actually be the norm to have a lengthy commute to work.

Hell, I live in a suburb with quite good public transport and it would take me almost 30 minutes to go to the grocery store by bus.

When I was a teenager and had no car, it took me about an hour to get to my minimum wage job by bus due to transfers. Once I could afford a car (because I lived with mum and dad and could save) that commute got cut to 20 minutes.

Re: Low unemployment isn’t worth much if the jobs barely pay

#59

Post by koheripbal »

supernova87a wrote: post #36

I don't think low unemployment is the unequivocal positive sign that politicians/ think it is ("We're putting millions of Americans back to work!"). Maybe it's not something to be so proud of. If people are having to come out of the woodwork to take jobs that aren't moving the average wage up, maybe they're doing it because they have to, in order to get by. Is it a good thing that a 60+ year old goes back to work at…

Even the lowest wage bracket of jobs has kept up with price inflation overall.

Re: Low unemployment isn’t worth much if the jobs barely pay

#60

Post by throw0x1away »

ausjke wrote: post #7

Totally disagree. It's 1000000 times better than without a job, a job at least helps mental status and boost some esteem. Also it's 1000000000000 times better than living on welfare or food stamps. for himself/herself and for the society.

Of course having a low-paying job is A LOT better than not having a job at all. You can ignore other ill-intended comments that are throwing straw-men at you.

Subjective opinion: jobs promote financial independence, mainly independence from the government. When the majority is not handcuffs and forced to give their votes to socialists to secure their welfare benefits (which, ironically, furthers their dependence on corrupted government and tightens handcuffs), democracy and sane vote prevail.

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