Business Insider on the price of labor

My browser has "recommended reading pages" it offers me when I open a new blank tab.

Although I usually ignore these as most of them are blatant attempts to entice one to paywall-restricted contents, I found an article from Business Insider which is apropos to several of gjohnsit's essays as regards the price of labor.

The article is located at: http://www.businessinsider.com/supply-and-demand-model-of-labour-markets... . One taste and then please do go and read the whole thing:

So this ought to be a golden age for workers. Wages ought to be going up. Employees ought to be able to name their price. "I ain't gonna work on Maggie's farm no more" ought to be the national anthem.

And yet, in the US and the UK, wages are stagnant.

Go now and read the whole article! Smile

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Big Al's picture

is overall flawed because he uses the official unemployment stats for his argument.

"In April the unemployment rate is claimed to have fallen to 3.9 percent, but the participation rate fell also. Neoliberal economists explain away the contradiction by claiming that the falling participation rate is due to the retirement of the baby boom generation, but BLS jobs statistics indicate that those 55 and older account for a large percentage of the new jobs during the alleged recovery. This is the age class of people forced into the part time jobs available by the absence of interest income on their retirement savings. What is really happening is that the unemployment rate does not include discouraged workers, who have given up searching for jobs as there are none to be found. The true measure of the unemployment rate is the decline in the labor force participation rate, not a 3.9 percent rate concocted by not counting those millions of Americans who cannot find jobs. If the unemployment rate really was 3.9 percent, there would be labor shortages and rising wages, but wages are stagnant. These anomalies pass without comment from neoliberal economists."

https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2018/05/12/for-economic-truth-turn-...

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Big Al's picture

@Big Al @Big Al where about the bottom 70% is stuck competing for low paying service jobs. Then's there the middle class jobs which are increasing, particularly when you get to the 20th percentile on up. Then you have the super wages at the 1% level. So wages are being kept down for the bottom 70% because there just aren't enough fucking good jobs and those available are part time, low paying without benefits which causes millions of people to simply drop out of the labor market and not be counted. But wages are rising at for the middle and upper classes.

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The Aspie Corner's picture

@Big Al when it comes to the labor market. Lowest wages. First hours cut. First laid off/fired. And more often than not, we're stuck working low wage service jobs or worse, many end up warehoused for below minimum wage. And the 'services' offered to us are next to nothing and getting worse.

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

Big Al's picture

@The Aspie Corner My 30 year old son has been deaf since birth, non-speaking sign language only with a congenital back problem. Options are still limited at this time.

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@Big Al

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Big Al's picture

@Ellen North hugs are one of life's necessities.

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@Big Al

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Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

The Aspie Corner's picture

@Big Al The blue beards and their HR apologists all say they want us to work for them, and yet they write the rules to where we're stuck below the glass floor.

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

lotlizard's picture

@The Aspie Corner  
Job market for blind people is practically non-existent.

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@Big Al
that said that 8% polled were "unemployed" and 30% were "retired" - but only 20% of those polled were over 65. And this poll was skewed, as 18% claimed to have more than a 4 year degree. (so much for needing to have a college degree to get a good job)

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On to Biden since 1973

thanatokephaloides's picture

@Big Al

Although he makes some good points, his premise is overall flawed because he uses the official unemployment stats for his argument.

I figured anybody around here who would read the article (or gjohnsit's essays to which it relates) would already know that American unemployment stats are seriously cooked. As I said in a comment in one of those essays, "when I first entered the adult workforce in 1980, the unemployment books were medium-rare. Today, they're quite well-done indeed."

The boss classes have now even defeated the laws of supply and demand to keep us Serfs down.

Bad

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"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

@Big Al
as several people have noted the unemployment number cannot be trusted.

The article also fails to mention how the destruction of labor unions and FTAs factor into the lack of rising wages.

But the article is still worth reading.

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snoopydawg's picture

You have to wonder what they are going to do when we don't have money to buy their products, but they are probably thinking that after all the undesirables die off then they can either restart their businesses or have people work at their company stores.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.