[zcarter]

If you suppress prices, you reduce supply. Demand remains high, supply is now artificially low.

One unspoken benefit of this history of wage suppression is the dearth of engineering talent today. Rather than high prices signaling an opportunity to invest in an engineering education, labor market participants should have rationally chosen different skills and disciplines given the relatively low perceived market pay.

It stands to reason that engineers are getting paid more now than they otherwise would be thanks to temporal lags and education costs. If an unrigged market had been signaling prices that conformed to job market participant's real demands, the students of yesterday could have recognized better job opportunities today.

[a8da6b0c91d]

The wage suppression and agitation for imported labor has cultural impacts more serious than supply and demand. The message sinks in that the occupations are low prestige, regardless of earnings. High prestige occupations don't get kicked around like that.

[kungfooey]

How does that apply to the wage disparities in, say, the UK? From what I gather the wages there seem depressed moreso than, say, in the US.

[epicureanideal]

Isn't the same thing happening with doctors? I see a lot of doctors from outside the US. I'm not sure what would be a higher prestige profession. I think the message is that just about everybody gets kicked around.

[DamnYuppie]

Those Doctors are eager to come here as the wages for Doctors here is very high. Also there is a much larger bar to entry for being a Doctor then an Engineer so there has been a shortage in the US.