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Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

annehelen.substack.com

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Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#101

Post by lastofthemojito »

I'm surprised that the article Kottke links to didn't quote/acknowledge FDR. Maybe the author just came up with

>We should ask ourselves, our communities, and our government: if a business can’t pay a living wage, should it be a business?

independently, but it sounds a lot like FDR's [0]:

>It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country. By "business" I mean the whole of commerce as well as the whole of industry; by workers I mean all workers, the white collar class as well as the men in overalls; and by living wages I mean more than a bare subsistence level-I mean the wages of decent living.

[0]: http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/odnirast.html

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#102

Post by pydry »

colinmhayes wrote: post #33
unethical_ban wrote: post #21

Occasionally, Twitter provides some nice insights in digestible forms (of course, nuance gets stripped). I saw a post recently that said something like "We watch Star Trek and marvel at their post-scarcity world. We are living in a post-scarcity world now, but all the benefits are being funneled by wage slaves up to the 0.1%." Paraphrased. I was talking with a friend who mentioned that a local pizza place is offering…

We aren't actually living in a post scarcity world though. We're moving in the right direction, and hopefully we get there soon, but there is still plenty of scarcity.

Worse, a lot of what is considered postscarcity / precursor-to-fully-automated-luxury-communism already in here is simply the US hegemony discount.

And that won't last forever.

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#103

Post by gher-shyu3i »

_wldu wrote: post #55
unyttigfjelltol wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe the pizza shop would get a stronger response if they hired permanent workers on an annual $37k salary? An $18/hr wage is not identical....

But then they'd have to provide benefits (like health insurance, parental leave, etc.) and treat workers with dignity and respect. In America, that's unlikely to happen without government regulations enforcing it.

Is it the same for restaurant workers in Europe?

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#104

Post by kesselvon »

qudat wrote: post #36
andreshb wrote: post #6

If a business can’t pay a living wage, automate the role.

I disagree. Not everyone needs a livable wage (e.g. teenagers) and by removing entry level positions we eliminate the lowest rung of the ladder. This is not a good outcome.

Why create an incentive to exploit teenagers for profit? Work is work, regardless of if the person being paid is 18 or 81. You're paying for output.

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#105

Post by cratermoon »

qudat wrote: post #36
andreshb wrote: post #6

If a business can’t pay a living wage, automate the role.

I disagree. Not everyone needs a livable wage (e.g. teenagers) and by removing entry level positions we eliminate the lowest rung of the ladder. This is not a good outcome.

Unless they want to save money for college. Remember when you could work an entry level job and make enough money to pay for a substantial portion of college?

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#106

Post by throwaway292893 »

somebodythere wrote: post #78
gonational wrote: post #22

Timeline of Stupidity A: "we should give everyone free money!" B: "no, that'll make everyone lazy..." A: "no, people will work on things they love instead!" [everyone gets free money] [nobody works, everyone plays video games all day] A: "see, this proves that everyone was being exploited!" B: [smh] Plato's Five Regimes. We're entering the fourth regime.

It's almost like this happened in the midst of a global pandemic where most people aren't allowed to do the things they would rather do than sit inside and play games...

That's crazy, no. people are lazy and will be lazy if you give them the option.

There's plenty of jobs available. No jobs are unavailable due to covid restrictions.

Burnouts playing video games is not new to the pandemic, the only difference is their pay raise.

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#107

Post by cratermoon »

jolux wrote: post #64
rossdavidh wrote: post #43

Well, there's a straightforward (I don't say easy) way to fix this: you require a high enough minimum wage (and healthcare, and sick leave, and etc.). It's not like the restaurant owner has the option of just deciding to pay twice or three times the labor costs, and trust that their customers will be happy to cover the difference, if their competitors don't have to do the same. Because, those restaurant (and retail a…

>It's not like the restaurant owner has the option of just deciding to pay twice or three times the labor costs, and trust that their customers will be happy to cover the difference, if their competitors don't have to do the same. This feels a bit backwards. We don’t know that their competitors aren’t already paying more, we only know that some people can’t seem to get labor at the price they were paying before. I th…

> I think America has been too scared of inflation for too long

This is true! The Federal Reserve, since the Carter administration, has acted like even the slightest bit of inflation is impending doom.

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#108

Post by indigochill »

rossdavidh wrote: post #43

Well, there's a straightforward (I don't say easy) way to fix this: you require a high enough minimum wage (and healthcare, and sick leave, and etc.). It's not like the restaurant owner has the option of just deciding to pay twice or three times the labor costs, and trust that their customers will be happy to cover the difference, if their competitors don't have to do the same. Because, those restaurant (and retail a…

Maybe I'm naive, but this seems to have some significant problems:

1. Yes, everything costs 2x more for professional-class people, but also for working-class people. The numbers might get bigger, but the impact for those in the position to consider these terrible jobs is net nil.

2. For anything that doesn't require physical presence, the more you raise minimum domestic labor cost, the more attractive foreign labor looks, so you're also driving outsourcing.

Re: Labor shortage or terrible jobs?

#110

Post by paulpauper »

unethical_ban wrote: post #21

Occasionally, Twitter provides some nice insights in digestible forms (of course, nuance gets stripped). I saw a post recently that said something like "We watch Star Trek and marvel at their post-scarcity world. We are living in a post-scarcity world now, but all the benefits are being funneled by wage slaves up to the 0.1%." Paraphrased. I was talking with a friend who mentioned that a local pizza place is offering…

Such signs are somewhat misleading. it does not mean the restaurant is in urgent need of work. it is more like, we have a position open, please apply. You may be hired, but likely not, as many other people applied for it, and we need someone who can meet our stringent requirements. They may not even have a position open and instead are looking for an ideal employee who meets these criteria, which means someone else may be fired.
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