public: Yeah, we have record low unemployment and rising wages.
Also public: Oh no, employers paying the lowest wages are having trouble retaining workers due to their workers having better options! This is because workers have no agency! Proof that employers are being abusive!
* * *
Really, this is all good news. A tight labor market makes labor more expensive. This makes labor more scarce for employers, which creates things like labor shortages and high turnover, forcing employers to use robots that help take orders and more automation to increase labor productivity.
It's a good thing. It allows higher living standards and wages by increasing the capital/labor ratio so that each worker can produce more per hour.
But businesses often need to be forced into it by tight labor markets, so productivity is often pro-cyclic: tight labor demand creates more productivity and rising wages.
That someone would whine about rising wages and labor scarcity and strain a mental muscle or two as they try to cast this as some form of worker oppression is pretty shocking.
Also public: Oh no, employers paying the lowest wages are having trouble retaining workers due to their workers having better options! This is because workers have no agency! Proof that employers are being abusive!
* * *
Really, this is all good news. A tight labor market makes labor more expensive. This makes labor more scarce for employers, which creates things like labor shortages and high turnover, forcing employers to use robots that help take orders and more automation to increase labor productivity.
It's a good thing. It allows higher living standards and wages by increasing the capital/labor ratio so that each worker can produce more per hour.
But businesses often need to be forced into it by tight labor markets, so productivity is often pro-cyclic: tight labor demand creates more productivity and rising wages.
That someone would whine about rising wages and labor scarcity and strain a mental muscle or two as they try to cast this as some form of worker oppression is pretty shocking.