Productivity gains and wage gains have not been tied together for at least the last 10 years. The gains in 'productivity' have been the source of the widening profit margins of corporations during that period. It doesn't surprise me that, with many states now passing legislation mandating increases in the minimum wage, 'productivity' (i.e., profit gouging at the expense of workers) has taken a minor hit. What surprises me is that In These Times would post an analysis that didn't recognize this state of affairs for what it is. Can we please look at 'indicators' that have some bearing on the …
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peachmcd
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"New jobs are created that often are better than the old ones that go away. No more people making buggy whips, but lots building computers." What is Wolf's idea of 'better' jobs? The shift over the last 20 years in the US has been from highly-paid unionized manufacturing jobs with vacation time, health insurance, and retirement benefits to low-wage service jobs with few or no benefits. Those retail clerks (aka 'sales associates'), Starbucks barristas, hotel and restaurant workers cannot be outsourced, so they're the jobs that people move into when their factory jobs go to India, China, and Latin America. Service …
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