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I guess this ruins the narrative of the people crying and whining that despite almost record-low unemployment, and certainly record low for most of our lives unless you're extremely old, "wages aren't keeping up!" An intelligent person -- so not most Americans, clearly -- understands that the economy really is pretty simple. Companies make products or they offer services. To do those things, they need employees to fill various roles. A company's preference would ALWAYS be to get all labor, parts, and leases for free, but that's not realistic, clearly, so their actual reality-based goal is to pay as little as possible for each element of the business and to charge as much as possible for their goods and / or services. That's also not realistic because they have to compete with other companies for business. If Company B offers a product for $20 that's better than their product, they're going to have to innovate and make a better product if they want the same $20 or more, or maybe they could outspend Company B on advertising and sell an inferior product for $20, too, or they're going to need to undercut Company B with their budget-product offering.
The competition for skilled employees -- a finite number of people in each field, after all -- necessitates that each company can't pay these workers minimum wage because another company will poach all of their employees by offering them more. That's how you get the market rate for any given profession. It's not just pulled out of thin air. I know based on my business that I can afford to pay my editor $27.50/hour, but I'm nervous that freelance editors make a lot more money than that, so he recently got a 10% raise and will get another 10% raise shortly because I can't afford to lose him. I also know that I can't afford to pay an editor, say, $50/hour, because I can't charge my clients $100/hour or more for editing without the package pricing getting to a point where we start losing clients.
So a person with any degree of intelligence figures out, gee, if I want to make more money, I need to possess a skill that's worth money to companies and make myself valuable to these types of companies. They don't sit there complaining about CEOs making too much money when they have a high school degree and no real skills. If there are 50 million Americans with zero special skills and only the need for 35 million of them, clearly they all deserve minimum wage as even then there's a massive oversupply of unskilled labor. They're lucky even to be getting an artificially inflated minimum wage, when the actual market rate would be lower.
Apparently it means that motorcycles with loud exhaust pipes save lives because the other drivers can hear you’re coming. Neither side has any real data but the debate rages on. I need my bike loud to be safe! Your bike is too loud just because you want attention!
Apparently it means that motorcycles with loud exhaust pipes save lives because the other drivers can hear you’re coming. Neither side has any real data but the debate rages on. I need my bike loud to be safe! Your bike is too loud just because you want attention!
...Wages and salaries rose 0.9 percent, well ahead of expectations for 0.5 percent. Benefit costs were up 0.4 percent.
On a yearly basis, wages and salaries jumped 3.1 percent, the biggest increase in 10 years....
Too bad hydro rates jumped (where I live) 25%
Too bad insurance rates (where I live) jumped another 25%
Too bad food prices increased immensely.
Too bad property taxes increased by almost 100%
Wages rising 3.1 % doesn't even come near to what's needed to maintain a secure home.
Too bad hydro rates jumped (where I live) 25%
Too bad insurance rates (where I live) jumped another 25%
Too bad food prices increased immensely.
Too bad property taxes increased by almost 100%
Wages rising 3.1 % doesn't even come near to what's needed to maintain a secure home.
You're confusing personal rate of inflation with CPI, they are two different things. You're also confusing increases in certain line items with an overall inflation rate, people tend to focus on things that increased, ignoring the percentage of their overall household budget. People also tend to exaggerate.
I know my wage is now double what it was five years ago. I have talked to many business owners who have said similar things - they are raising wages to keep their more skilled employees. A sellers market in labor these days. Hope inflation stays in check and the growth happens in the central part of the country.
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