This piece from the Atlantic hits the high notes from yesterday's piece, but it tries really hard to find a downside. Employers are "desperate," and the ability of workers to demand higher wages 'exposes the scars that even a hot economy is unable to heal.'
Plus, though central Iowa’s low jobless rate has helped workers of color, less-educated workers, younger workers, and others who face discrimination in the labor market, it remains true that it is the best-off that have done the best.
They have to work pretty hard to find that downside, in an economy in which wages are rising faster than ever, and even the convict they interviewed -- who couldn't get hired for years due to his past -- now has a job he loves, making $21/hr plus benefits.
The best-off are sometimes the lucky, but more often have more skill or determination. Unsurprising that they do even better.
ReplyDeleteyeah, it's terrible that equality of opportunity means inequality of outcome. But it's the outcome that must be equal, no matter the cost.
ReplyDeleteEric Hines
If only we could simply mandate higher wages for everyone, we wouldn't have all this envy over people who find themselves in a position to bargain for a raise.
ReplyDeleteWhen you think of it, when we embrace the free market we are mandating higher wages for everyone. 41% of America lived in poverty in 1949.
ReplyDeleteE. Hines:
ReplyDeleteBut it's the outcome that must be equal, no matter the cost.
That doesn't include the desired outcome of getting offspring into an elite school.