Remote work can also be a source of socioeconomic inequality
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Remote work can also be a source of socioeconomic inequality
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Re: Remote work can also be a source of socioeconomic inequality
#2Would it be similar to say "factories worsen inequality by mostly helping high-income earners" (consider England during the Industrial Revolution)? New technology increases our productivity.
Re: Remote work can also be a source of socioeconomic inequality
#3Since there is no limit on the ceiling, but there is a limit to the floor, things that increase economic opportunity tend to decrease equality. Things that reduce economic opportunity tend to increase equality.
See e.g. Steven Pinker:
"...the most effective ways of reducing inequality are epidemics, massive wars, violent revolutions and state collapse."
https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/twenty-questions-steven-p...
Re: Remote work can also be a source of socioeconomic inequality
#4The suggestion that governments can close the remote working gap is not very well thought out. A large percentage of low income work is service work that requires physical presence. You can’t make the typical burger joint remote friendly without automating all the jobs away.
Re: Remote work can also be a source of socioeconomic inequality
#5>> "Benefits not available to low-income workers"
A more accurate statement would be "Benefits not available to low-income jobs"
There are plenty of jobs that simply cannot be done remotely. The more physical the job, the less it can be done remotely. A meat packer at a meat packing plant cannot work from home. A construction worker cannot build houses from a desk. (I'd add nursing, but a large amount of those jobs is paperwork that often can be done remotely.) And there are some very highly-paid jobs that cannot be done from home. Pilots cannot pilot from home (of the few that still have jobs). Surgeons cannot cut. Mechanics cannot turn their wrenches from afar.
And all the IT people. Some of them can login remotely to diagnose network and service problems, but someone always has to have hands on hardware. There is yet to be a robot that can replace a failed cooling fan on a law firm's NAS device. Some, many, of these people are in fact making trips to other peoples' homes to service the equipment that allows them to work at home.
Re: Remote work can also be a source of socioeconomic inequality
#6Would it be similar to say "factories worsen inequality by mostly helping high-income earners" (consider England during the Industrial Revolution)? New technology increases our productivity.
`New technology increases our productivity`
I have doubts about that sometimes.
Re: Remote work can also be a source of socioeconomic inequality
#7higher paid more intellectual/creative jobs can often be done from home.
good lucking building roads or baking bread on an industrial scale from home.
Re: Remote work can also be a source of socioeconomic inequality
#8The suggestion that governments can close the remote working gap is not very well thought out. A large percentage of low income work is service work that requires physical presence. You can’t make the typical burger joint remote friendly without automating all the jobs away.
They are miserable people who want to make things worse for remote workers because if everybody can't have something then nobody can.
Re: Remote work can also be a source of socioeconomic inequality
#9Since there is no limit on the ceiling, but there is a limit to the floor, things that increase economic opportunity tend to decrease equality. Things that reduce economic opportunity tend to increase equality. See e.g. Steven Pinker: "...the most effective ways of reducing inequality are epidemics, massive wars, violent revolutions and state collapse." https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/twenty-questions-steven-p...
I always argue caution about revolution to help the poor, as there are plenty of examples where revolution killed as many poor people as it did aristocrats.
Possibly the least flame war worthy example is the French Revolution. While the popular image is of the great terror killing off nobles, the reality is that most of the killings in Paris were either politicians or unfortunate merchants who refused to sell their goods at state mandated prices (at a loss) and were denounced.
And that’s not even including the 160,000 mostly poor soldiers killed in the Vendée after peasants revolted against forced conscription, nor the extra 40,000 civilians killed in the brutal reprisals after the war was over.
And the kicker? Not only did France eventually get a different king, but most nobles were able re-buy their old estates, and the government even went deeper into debt to compensate various nobles for their confiscated land.
Re: Remote work can also be a source of socioeconomic inequality
#10>> "Benefits not available to low-income workers" A more accurate statement would be "Benefits not available to low-income jobs " There are plenty of jobs that simply cannot be done remotely. The more physical the job, the less it can be done remotely. A meat packer at a meat packing plant cannot work from home. A construction worker cannot build houses from a desk. (I'd add nursing, but a large amount of those jobs…
I would also say that even for people that can work remotely, low income may mean worse environment for work at home. Even with three kids I was able to quickly repurpose one of the rooms for home office and get everything needed to work comfortably from home.
As my wife does not need to work we have less problem with kids staying at home. This is currently mostly discussion how to provide healthy environment for them to grow. I know colleagues at work who are not as fortunate and have to share same space with kids with no breather and it is putting a very visible strain on them.