The Demographic Drought

[@CraigKammanMN]

Excellent presentation - very informative. Mentally I am envisioning AI coming in to fill a lot of the openings. Not that I am in favor of that, it is just the technology is right around the corner and this problem exists.

[@azmodanpc]

Imo we are still a long way to replace a sizable share of humans with AI

[@Bear1buff]

Tax the robots!

[@HidingFromFate]

I am trying to reconcile that as well. There was a Frontline episode about 2 years ago and one of the featured commentators was an author of a book called AI Superpowers. His projection was that automation will be coming for the white collar jobs within a decade or so, negating something like 30 to 50% of those jobs. This is on top of the significant amount of automation that has already reduced blue collar work.

[@gregoryknapen9133]

Maybe there are not enough upcoming AI researchers and professionals to develop the models needed to fill all the gaps.

[@azmodanpc]

@@gregoryknapen9133 AI right now is very brittle. Plenty of smart people working on many algos. Right now all I see is recommendations, search engines and advertising. All the chatbots I've had the misfortune of "using" are as helpful as a scummy self help guru. Insurance behemoths are investing big money but I've yet to see a killer app. The hype is real but tangible progress imho is still 5 years in the future.

[@christianlibertarian5488]

Employers have screwed themselves. So many have considered workers disposable for the last 30 years. This destroyed company loyalty. That, and internal paths to advancement have dried up, as it was easier to hire from outside. So the only thing that people will trust is cash.

[@ianbelanger7459]

The whole section at the end about training and pay hides the sins from the mostly corporate audience. Pay was effectively stagnant because as noted there were always more Baby Boomers. The flattening of earnings by changing logistics systems was aided by the removal the high skill, high cost, low profit training and development programs companies didn't need anymore. There is simply no path to continued growth for most companies because there profits and executive pay will have to go down to hire new people and build programs they haven't had to pay for in 40 years.

[@christianlibertarian5488]

@@ianbelanger7459 Exactly. I will speculate, however, that corporations that don't respond to this new/old methodology will collapse. At least, that is what I want.

[@ianbelanger7459]

@@christianlibertarian5488 which parties benefit from the transition will mostly be determined by how the country collectively stabilizes the economy. The truly rich almost always skate by. If the support is primarily delivered to companies, even the bad companies will do fine. If the support programs are aimed at cities and individuals, the bad actors are far more likely to fade or collapse being replaced by companies more suited to the new post growth business environment.

[@walrustrent2001]

You nailed it. Demographics are the reflection of the expectations of people regarding the future of their children... and a big part of that is the long-term security of your income.

[@christianlibertarian5488]

@@cordfortina9073 Right now, labor is in the driver's seat. I am speculating that it will be for another decade. Outsourcing to China is no longer an option. Building stuff in the US is now cheaper than China, even with higher labor costs. So stuff is being built here, and it needs labor; there is a relative shortage. As regards CEO's, for a big corporation, they are indeed worth $30M. A good CEO is very difficult to find. Look at GE--it had Jack Welch, and became a superstar company. He left, the company tanked. Billions rest on their decisions. OTOH, bad CEOs cost. JCPenney hired a guy they thought was a star, then fired him because he wasn't.

[@randyjones3050]

My left ear enjoyed this.

[@israelvargas479]

Ha ha. Thought it was just me.

[@dmoon9037]

The Stereophonic Drought(tm)

[@gregorynuttall]

Ok good, my headphones aren't broken.

[@vanekirk]

😆

[@MarshallTheArtist]

@@gregorynuttall I was legitimately concerned

[@carmenhealer4635]

Pay more! It works. Treat your employees with respect… What a concept.

[@gregorynuttall]

I laughed when he said, "The thing I'm not a fan of is raising wages...Everybody loses. Well the workers win, bUt eVEn tHeN....." 🤣

[@DavidWilliams-qr5yj]

Not the answer 😕 if you understand how money works,but alas 50 % of Americans have no clue how money works

[@waris4thewealthy549]

NO! Yacht, Yacht, yacht, McMansion McMansion McMansion, Porsche, Ferrari, Benz, Chefs, dogs, ex wives, mistresses, coke and taxes…No…I can’t afford it…🤔🤣

[@christinelafromboise6731]

@@waris4thewealthy549 do rich people pay taxes? 😕

[@waris4thewealthy549]

@@christinelafromboise6731 Jesus man..relax..it’s just a joke..depends on your definition of “rich” some do and some don’t….not everybody is trying to cheat the system but you would be a fool not follow the advice of your financial adviser…thats what you hire them for right?🤨

[@gregorynuttall]

The audience for this research: businesses and corporations. How you know this research is NOT for the workers: "The thing I'm not a fan of is raising wages...Everybody loses. Well the workers win, bUt eVEn tHeN....." 🤣

[@TheSolitaryEye]

​@@ryanroggenbauer3642 Because business leaders don't want the system to actually change in a way that hurts them. They will not accept a change in percentages of distribution of gains, so the only way to increase pay for their employees is to raise their prices, which means that while it might seem like those employees are wealthier in the short term, if every company does the same thing, nothing changes. It's hard to argue that capital investors deserve less of a cut from corporate revenue, but I think that upper management salaries are bloated. There's clear cases across the economy of bad CEOs making bad decisions and their company making money anyway, and good CEOs watching their company die to forces outside their control. Leadership positions are seen as way more influential than they actually are, and the sooner we realize that they're just another part of the team, the better off we'll all be.

[@christopherhendrickson221]

“Cheese pizza isn’t enough, anymore. These workers are demanding meat lovers.”

[@JerbilKonai]

The thing is: When everyone's pay goes up... what hinders buisnesses from raising prices to match? When you just increase the pay with no regards to the general value you can end up with hyper inflation (though this usually happens when the government begins to print money in mass to get rid of their debt) And when you have increased inflation, you don't have (as much of) a benefit from saving anymore. Look at China: They have for one person growing up up to six people (parents+grandparents) who help when it comes to buy a house... House prices rise and the cost of raising (and supporting) a child goes up. Now it isn't economic anymore to have multiple children (as they were in the majority of human history the only retirement option).

[@ianmensik8245]

Indeed. This entire presentation is completely out of touch with reality. Many of the assumptions and premises made are almost complete 180 degrees from what is actually going on.

[@robc8468]

@@ryanroggenbauer3642 Higher wages lead to higher prices. Higher wages also leads to higher tax brackets and more money going to government. Wages can and should only go up when productivity goes up otherwise most people will be worse off and their standard of living will go down.

[@egl9sun]

For the past 20 years all of these companies, especially the telecom sector, embraced the idea of laying off at least 5% of the workforce every single year. They created a very toxic internal work environment that required management to constantly rate and rank employees, and at least yearly remind employees that they could be laid off. I finally volunteered to be laid off so that I could get my severance and leave. That mind set appears to still be in most major corporations.

[@azmodanpc]

Extreeeme Capitalizm in practice. Unchecked and moronic greed. When you run out of workers and whine to the government for more bailouts while the managers get out with golden parachutes.

[@Nylphinx]

It's like that in the mortgage industry of big banks

[@wolfumz]

We empowered corporations to treat our neighbors this way. This is not an unfixable problem, but we need to start respecting people's labor.

[@paulcolburn3855]

@@azmodanpc They laid off the US citizens then they whine to government and give them lobbyist dollars to increase the number of H1B Visas to get more technical immigrants. And because the congressmen are getting their re-election coffers filled with dollars, they simply add to the H1B total. Biden tried to get 1,000,000 more H1Bs with his Build Back Better plan. Thank goodness it was blocked.

[@scottdawson3604]

Very true... but I'd say all tech, not just telecom.

[@chrishoff402]

I remember trying to negotiate a pay raise in the 1990's after my first and only child, my wife and I were hoping to have at least one more. I'll never forget the way my boss just laughed and said, "it's not our problem if you want to have more children". All I can say to companies now is, you will not be hiring the children your workers could not afford to have. Corporations and politicians have been governed by a think long/think wrong attitude for coming on 2 generations, and it's about to seriously bite them in the rear.

[@MrWaterbugdesign]

That company was correct imo. You should get a higher salary because you want more kids so single people working there have to be paid less. Let's consider a system that pays people based on their desires rather than what they produce. Doesn't sound like that great a system. The US can get as many low wage workers as we like extremely quickly via immigration. We don't have to pay people to have kids.

[@AffyisAffy]

You don't ask for raises anymore, you look for a new job and never accept counter offers. Company loyalty to the employee is dead.

[@npg192]

Wife and I have zero kids. And life is so much easier and you don't have that vulnerability that goes along with it either.

[@claireomeara2620]

The presenter is quite clear that immigration will not provide the needed labor because too many developed countries need labor and the potential immigrant labor force is too small. Also this country expects parents to shoulder pretty much the entire burden of raising children, and the ensuing economic losses of lower income and/or child care expenses, increased medical insurance, car insurance (for teen drivers), educational expenses, housing, it goes on. Tax policies can help by greatly increasing the deduction for dependent children to off set these expenses. Plus none of this addresses the stress and emotional demands of parenting in the isolation of the nuclear family. It is no wonder birth rates are declining.

[@chrishoff402]

@@MrWaterbugdesign I can remember a time when businesses understood that they needed to pay workers enough to provide the next generation of workers or they would be screwed. They forgot that in the 1970s, took profit for 2 generations and for the next 3 generations it's going to cost more than it was worth.

[@steveg9744]

Why aren’t the debt-slaves working anymore?! THE SICKNESS IS THE SYSTEM

[@gorkyd7912]

Pre-1973 boomers were not debt slaves. They bought houses for $25k that are now selling for $500k.

[@LucasFernandez-fk8se]

Honestly working isn’t the issue. The issue is the overpriced homes, the 8% bidenflation, the dumb hiring policies from companies (some people still can’t get hired even though companies are “begging” for workers) and the low wages on starter jobs. Also the fact every shitty job wants a college degree

[@mistylm2365]

@Steve G that’s correct

[@fedup1606]

The Millennial man is currently at war with this system. As long as we maintain this fiat debt based system, which funnels all the excess labor to the top rather than allowing a man to keep the fruits of his labor; then I will continue to work my "part-time" job, not buy a house, not have a family, and enjoy watching the Corporation bitch and moan about "not enough workers", who they have been screwing for the better part of 4 decades. The long arc of Universe bends towards justice.

[@forrestgossett]

@@LucasFernandez-fk8se Bidenflation? Yeah, it’s all his fault…..and has nothing to do with companies raising prices to make up for Trump’s shut down, supply chain issues or even the greed heads who see workers everywhere finally getting raised leaning in.

[@troycongdon]

29:54 “I am not a fan of raising wages” Sir, that mindset is the driving cause of your population loss. Up until about 1970, gains in productivity were returned in part to the labor force. Since then, the inflation adjusted wage of the employee has stagnated or declined while the output of those employees has continued to rise. People do not enjoy being abused and there is a limited incentive to bring children into a society where they are likely to be abused. I agree that increases in wages result in increases in costs which drives inflation. Those most worried about inflation are precisely the ones who need to put their money back in circulation. I am a millennial with three children. The first was easy to justify. Bringing more into this world took quite a bit of contemplation, weighing the benefits and costs to myself and society.

[@nonyadamnbusiness9887]

Increasing wages drives unemployment, it does not drive inflation. There is only one cause of inflation; overproduction of money.

[@deusexaethera]

Raising the minimum wage is a short-term stopgap, nothing more. When the minimum wage is raised, businesses pass the higher costs to customers, and statistically most of those customers must be earning at or near minimum wage themselves. You get more money from The Man just so you can pay more money to The Man. The real problem is a lack of price controls for basic commodities, which is the reason _why_ businesses are able to pass on to their customers the higher costs of paying higher wages.

[@deusexaethera]

@A. person : Higher wages are not the sole cause of inflation, but they are one cause.

[@nonyadamnbusiness9887]

@@deusexaethera You should learn something about economics other than socialist fairytales.

[@andrewdebner7057]

​@@nonyadamnbusiness9887 "There is only one cause of inflation; overproduction of money." This is not quite true at all. If you look at it you can classify inflation as either demand -pull inflation which is influenced by cuts in interest rates, and higher wages along with an increase in the money supply as you described, or cost-push inflation which is influenced by devalualuation, and value-added taxes (which in the US's case would be like excise taxes), expatations of inflation itself, or yet again, higher wages. You seem to be specifcily stuck on the principle of higher wages. Higher wages increase firms costs and increase consumers’ disposable income allowing them to spend more, thus increasing money in circulation. Rising wages are a key cause of cost-push inflation because wages are the most significant cost for many firms. Wage-push inflation is the increase in general price level resulting from higher wages in an economy. If there was a very significant rise in the minimum wage, it could in theory cause inflation, but generally speaking modest rises in the minimum wage have no significant impact on inflation. If higher wages cause higher prices. Then workers may make more efforts to increase wages in response to rising prices. This can lead to a wage-price spiral. Instances of hyperinflation often have an element of this. For example, in the 1920s, Weimar Germany saw moderate inflation, meaning workers were becoming worse off. To keep workers happy, the government printed more money so that they could increase nominal wages. But, this just fed through into higher inflation, more wage demands and hyperinflation. However, in cases of higher productivity there will not be a wage-price spiral.. and, as previously stated there as been an increase in productivity but no real increase in worker's wages since the 1970's, so they are due their wage adjustment.

[@striatic]

How on earth can you have a presentation about workforce participation without talking about the availability, costs and structure of child care? Totally shocking that people are “coasting” and “don’t want to work” when the cost/benefit analysis of raising their kid[s] themselves comparing to securing child care has never been more favorable to staying home.

[@joy4118]

The presenter appears to live in a bubble. Employment for most people sucks. And whatever stimulus government provided to keep the Covid scam going has long since disappeared servicing the fraudulent debt-as-money system's interest payments.

[@kojosmith1210]

I love this reply

[@theetiologist9539]

Perversely enough I actually think that this will end up being better for the children and their families development.

[@namaan123]

The problem is "affordable" child care can never be made truly affordable. It will never, for example, be affordable enough for a low/minimum wage worker since those are the very people that provide labor for child care for others. It's a farce, a lie if you will. Only a relatively small portion of the population that can afford child care would benefit, at the cost of those at the bottom rung of the population. Predictable enough, as that's how it usually goes with these sorts of 'compassionate' gov't programs. And more to the point, it would likely exacerbate the very demographic problem it aims to solve by making the position of those on that bottom, and most populous, socioeconomic rung that much more disparate and nearly impossible to have children of their own. Also a fairly predictable result of such gov't programs which have a habit of hurting the very people they purport to help and being ultimately counter-productive to boot.

[@amarissimus29]

The corporations do care about this. They care so much that they'll shell out whatever it takes to keep scraping those fetuses out of your womb. Childcare problem solved. Big hurrah for fundamental womens' rights. Champion social justice and keep your employees grinding, it's win-win.

[@csbaconusa]

I spent 48 years with the same company. Obviously, I liked my work. There were many cycles where moving would have paid better in wages or vacation. A lot better. I stayed put for the retirement. Now I’m 72 living on $86K. or a little under half pay. I’ve deteriorated physically or I’d still be working but what made it work for me was stability and knowing I would have a retirement when I needed it. $15/hr isn’t bringing people in. Toxic work environment is keeping people home.

[@moshow93]

I am a millenial. I will work at least part time until I die. I'm planning on being in the ground by 75. I will probably be living on about 15k adjusted for inflation that year.

[@niteowl365]

@@moshow93 Have you considered moving to a country that at least has health care and paid holiday leave such as any of the beautiful European countries? This would be an optimal time to do so before you have a family. Have a good life!

[@1MinuteFlipDoc]

I'm 27, worked for 5 years in software (did very well) and am now retired. I live off of investments and rental income. Everyone should retire early. it's nuts to spend your live working for someone else. explore foreign real estate as well. get renters/people being your employees and making you money. US renter laws can be ridiculous. Working for someone else for 48 years is ridiculous. Find worker bees that make your rich! If your in your 20s/30s in the US, only plan on a working for someone else for 2 years max. If the company isn't making you more valuable, quit fast!

[@moshow93]

@@1MinuteFlipDoc If everyone did that then the money you have would be worthless beacuse nobody would be doing anything of any actual value.

[@moshow93]

@@niteowl365 Me and 40 million other middle income millenials will get right on that.

[@carmenhealer4635]

The employer in the Midwest who decided to pay his workers 70k per year found an massive increase in the birth rate of his workers.

[@Rays_Bad_Decisions]

Lol yeah. He also has no concept how the measurement of inflation has changed. Go to home depot see how one size nail is half the cost of all the others by weight.... That's because that is the ONLY nail on the inflation index...... It's been way worse then they say since the 70s. Everytime it gets real bad they just change how they measure it.....

[@themsmloveswar3985]

Oddly enough, that will make the employees less likely to move to other cities to work elsewhere!!!!

[@cathrynm]

Yup, people are broke so they don't have kids. It's that simple. We drove up housing prices and put everyone in debt with college loans, they're barely surviving, and then we wonder, why doesn't anyone have children? The boomers had kids because they could afford to.

[@zer0nix]

An employer choosing to pay his employees more? Clearly that is socialism!! (actually unironically yes)

[@seththomas9105]

@@cathrynm Damn good Clift Note version Cathryn.

[@chasrmartel4777]

Only a "labor" economist could come up with the formulation that rising wages isn't a good idea.

[@chasrmartel4777]

@Jace Rivera Read about the destruction of the working class and middle class.

[@gadaadhoon]

Does anyone ever do the thing you just told each other to do?

[@chasrmartel4777]

@@gadaadhoon Yes. I lived through the 70s stagflation so I have read about its causes and cures. Ultimately, the end of empire and fiat currency are what is needed to restore the Republic. I don't think that will happen until we go through a civil war to reestablish the true founding stock nation. Aliens (foreign not space) have ruled America since the formation of the central bank and brought this cosmopolitan empire into existence to destroy the true nation.

[@gadaadhoon]

Please correct my ignorance. If stagflation is what happens when wages are constant and prices go up due to supply side problems how will increasing wages cause stagflation? I understand very well that it will cause inflation, I'm just confused as to how it will cause stagflation

[@chasrmartel4777]

@@gadaadhoon It won't cause inflation either. Inflation drives workers to seek higher pay, that explains the great resignation. The central bankers are reacting to this as they always do ultimately by restricting money supply and putting the economy into severe recession. The resulting unemployment destroys workers leverage and forces them to accept lower wages. Demand is reduced and comes into balance with supply. The only problem is that it also destroys the working and middle class. Sound money would lead to a constantly growing, mildly deflationary economy (productivity gains slowly lowering prices) that favors savings and middle class probity. That is the old and much finer Republic.

[@stevesmith-sb2df]

Our companies abandoned us. They sent our jobs to Taiwan and China. They even sent people from manufacturing and engineering to train our replacements.

[@omeryehezkely3096]

Nobody owes you anything. Grow up and create your own business.

[@rabbitsforyang8273]

@@omeryehezkely3096 always need more "gig entrepreneurs" paying 50% of revenues to Amazon or fighting for eyeballs on KZbin living in fear of getting demonetized with no explanation!

[@Thomas-lw7xi]

@@omeryehezkely3096 Ok boomer. Nobody owes you social security, get off your butt and go to work!

[@johnharker7194]

Social security is a tax for the general use of the government. You are a sucker.

[@aqgrafx]

most who paid into SS said nothing as it was burnt in the general fund plus much more debt incurred... and companies don't owe you nothing is the attitude that has forgotten the social contract. nothing gets done without labor, and capital does not get to capture all gains... this guy says people left manufacturing for restaurants... like they wanted a huge cut in pay... this guy is a economics school idiot... he thinks people leave manufacturing jobs... the manufacturing job left the worker with the help of the global slave keepers... the jobs went to wear the slaves are

[@a.g.3540]

So the takeaway is ... Simplify your job descriptions, invest in training your staff and don't let them quit if you can possibly avoid it. Just don't under any circumstances whatsoever increase the salaries you offer because that is 'bad' (no further explanation provided). One assumes that's because 'hey lets just increase salaries' is a message the presenter's employer thinks their clients (real or potential) don't want to hear. And I get that. Because hey, like when was the salary offered by a potential employer actually ever the main consideration when applying for a job? Mostly it's just about the 'vibe' right?

[@teuast]

good vibrations only pay the bills if you're the beach boys

[@wohnai]

My favorite was at the very end. Just hire the legal form of slavery that is our gigantic prison population! Unreal...

[@a.g.3540]

@@wohnai Wow, I didn't get that far before giving up in frustration. Just confirms that the presentation was aimed at the type of employer who would rather eat their own liver than offer higher pay to attract staff. I.E. Bad employers.

[@blakehill5324]

I think part of the point he was trying to make is that companies should try and keep employees longer to make training costs go down. He failed to mention that increasing pay and giving people job security is the most important part of keeping workers. This is not happening enough in companies today. They prefer to lay off workers who are inconvenient at the time and pay prospective workers very little

[@a.g.3540]

@@blakehill5324 Best way to change that? Make hiring costs tax deductible and reduce other taxes affecting 'new' hires. Then impose tax penalties and mandate termination payments for firings - particularity mass redundancies. Carrot and stick. (Ideally they should roughly balance out) but basically make hiring cheaper and firing more expensive.) And it the case of mass redundancies - no executive or board bonuses that year.

[@gregvassilakos]

I disagree that the reduced labor force participation rate is a problem. This has created higher demand for workers, which is increasing wages. The large number of people in low-wage jobs who can can't afford decent housing is a bigger problem.

[@brunopadovani7347]

Which the US Government is doing everything in its power to undermine by importing millions of illegal immigrants to drive down wages.

[@chuckwilliams6261]

This guy loves the word "problem." I have no problem with most of his problems. Low wage jobs should be living wage jobs. Boo hoo, the population is shrinking! as if the biggest problem with this planet is underpopulation. The demographic transition is the answer to Malthus.

[@Ragon_Reel]

He’s one of those paid ‘economist’ distractors funded by banks to disregard the obvious and identify and overplay to alternative indicators that are orders of magnitude less significant than the things you mentioned as the ‘root of the issue’.

[@age_of_reason]

I agree. These low-wage jobs need to disappear along with the businesses that supply them. Fast food needs to be automated like in Japan. Those lost jobs need to move into satellite and space exploration manufacturing. We have way too many burgers flippers.

[@雀-t6c]

@@chuckwilliams6261 The problem with a shrinking population is that we’re currently spending the money of our grandchildren like we just won the lottery. The smaller our next generation is, the more each individual will suffer for our irresponsibility

[@deborahdanhauer8525]

You have these companies that have requirements two pages long for a job that pays $11.00/hr. Then expect these employees to work 60 or 70 hours a week. People just finally said no… Raise the pay, make the jobs family friendly. Stop making low wage people feel abused just to be at work.

[@Growmap]

Yes. The way job descriptions are written I couldn't even recognize the ones for the positions I already held! They shoot themselves in the foot by writing job descriptions so ridiculous that people figure they may as well apply even if they have none of the qualifications. In the early days of the internet I saw job descriptions expecting 5 years of experience for positions that didn't exist 2 years before that. Who writes these things? Corporations are now reaping what they've sown. Give no respect or loyalty to your people and you get none in return.

[@deborahdanhauer8525]

@@Growmap What I love are the jobs that are advertised as “entry level jobs” but they want 5 years experience. Lol🐝🤗❤️

[@brunopadovani7347]

I agree 100%. One thing that needs to be understood is that in some ways, US manufacturers are FORCED to act this way, in a low tariff, free trade environment. Even in only moderately labor intensive industries, it is impossible to compete with $2/hr Chinese or Pakistani labor without being "stingy" on the factory floor. The root of the problem is low-tariff free trade. If Americans want higher wages and more family friendly hours, they have to give up cheap imported products, and buy fewer (but better made) but more expensive products made by their countrymen.

[@deborahdanhauer8525]

@@brunopadovani7347 I agree! People that want high wages but want to use it to buy cheap foreign products, are essentially saying they believe themselves to be the only one that deserves a good job. We need to scale back our personal spending too. Like you say, buy quality instead of quantity. This will take a complete reset of our thinking.

[@Growmap]

@@brunopadovani7347 Few people realize we would be better off if we did buy more expensive products that are better made because they last a long time. Appliances from the 1950s-1970s are still working today. Meanwhile, people regularly replace their cheap appliances every few years. Well-made western boots worn daily for hard work last 2 years. Cheap ones last 3 months. Personally, I always buy quality over cheap price because I don't want to have to keep buying something repeatedly. I want it to last as long as possible.

[@MichaelDeMersLA]

You miss the point when you advise not to raise wages. By your own line graph, the money supply doubled. Retail items now cost 15-21 percent more in stores than they did compared to February 2020. Low wage people have an intuitive understanding of Cost of Living relative to wage increases. They are (rationally) opting out because they know it would require a massive sea change of Economic Nationalism to get them a spouse and a single family home in a decent low-crime school district. If they are just going to waste away in a crappy apartment from age 37 to 87, why not work as little as possible? It’s entirely rationale. Oddly, even Gen X managers have not figured out the demographic trend lines yet, and still treat their employees as though they can be easily replaced.

[@thomassenbart]

Low wage people need to get some skills, which comes only from work/experience and or education. There is no reason to simply stay in the low wage category over time.

[@MichaelDeMersLA]

They have the skill of noticing food costs 17% more than it did a year ago and they are not going to eat that cost. For most business owners I know, 2020 was there most profitable year despite COVID. All that printed money had not been “priced in” to peoples wag expectations yet. Individual business owners have zero leverage now. You can acknowledge that or have no employees.

[@randyjones3050]

Not to mention that real wages have stagnated over the past 50 years relative to inflation. Wages in lower skilled jobs were way overdue for a signficant rise before COVID. However, he is correct that simply raising wages is not enough. Workers want to be treated better and have more scheduling flexibility (or in some cases predictability). Employers need to learn how to give their employees regular predictable hours. Retail and food service employers seem to be particularly bad at that. It may be that we will need to move back to a society where we don't expect businesses to be open all hours of the day and night because we simply don't have enough labor for it.

[@randyross5630]

Working is pointless... You can't get ahead because the Boomers and Gen Xers won't let you! They'll attack you, bare false wittiness on you, and try to turn people on you, no point sticking your neck out, because Boomers and Gen Xers will just want to Take It!

[@randyjones3050]

@@randyross5630 Ummm...that's some pretty broad generalizations you are making there. I'm a Gen Xer and I've never attacked anyone at the workplace. The only complaint I've had about staff who work under me is people thinking they can do whatever they want at work and show up whenever they want without consequence. That's not how the world works. When you agree to take a job you are agreeing to do the work you were hired to do at a certain price and you agreed to show up on time when the job requires. Too many people think that they can treat a job like a hobby and you can't run an organization that way. Incidently, I've had problems when all age groups in this regard. No age group was really any worse than they other.

[@philipgermani1616]

What about those of us boomers who retired early due to necessity but would like to return to work.....but ageism is alive and well. Employers still insist on the perfect candidate, and that does not seem to include older workers who have so much experience to share. Can't have it both ways, folks.

[@richardscathouse]

Agree

[@Gumardee_coins_and_banknotes]

Yes, they only higher 20 year olds with 20 years experience lol..

[@LucasFernandez-fk8se]

@@Gumardee_coins_and_banknotes no they only hire 20 year olds with 5 years experience in entry level jobs that pay 20$ an hour. “Why don’t you teenagers have a masters degree and 5 years experience in a field invented 2 years ago!”

[@3698sch]

He reminds me of an HR executive of a well known chocolate company i knew. She insisted that employees are not that interested in wage at all. wage-targets of the employee was only on the 16th place she argued. She was so surprised when a dairy plant opened next to the site and employees were beginning to get harder to come by. When suppliers of a car-manufacturing plant in a city 30 km away added a few work shops closeby, the only effective tool to get people and keep them was the cold hard cash. All these training programms and incentives, teambuilding and other low-cost alternatives to actually handing over actual money eventually went out the window. She herself followed very quickly. Of course there were sufficient job opportunities around, so now she works for another factory and is singing another tune. (still filled with bs, though, but other bs.)

[@gregorynuttall]

I laughed when he mentioned that with wage growth "Everybody loses. Well the workers win, bUt eVEn tHeN.....".

[@donmountford797]

@@gregorynuttall with inflation, the growth isn't real. If you make $200 more a month but your costs go up.$250/month you didn't benefit from the wage growth.

[@gregorynuttall]

@@donmountford797generally speaking, wages are not the cause of the inflation but a symptom of it. Inflation also appears to be outpacing wage growth.

[@donmountford797]

@@gregorynuttall I agree with your 2nd point. Inflation is increasing faster than wages but your 1st point is not accurate. Inflation is due to supply/demand. Yes a supply shortage or supply chain issues cause Inflation (both of which are issues currently) but so to does a labor supply shortage (which we also currently have) and of course the increased wages increases the worker's spending capital which increases demand and allows businesses to increase prices causing more inflation. House prices are a great example. Because people aren't working in the homebuilding space the way they once did, costs of labor (and supplies) have increased bring the supply of housing down. Because of wage increases (and low interest rates) people are able to pay more for a house and the demand has increased. Those two factors have caused this current explosion in housing.

[@3698sch]

@@donmountford797 Yeah, ok... do explain to me how it works: Wages increased so much that the increased demand caused things to become so expensive that said increased wages did not allow people being able to afford buying these things, because.....?

[@vladimirofsvalbard9477]

One of the biggest problems in society is the façade of college education. The quality is absolutely horrific in preparing you for just about any field of work, STEM included. Plus, the cost renders most borrows helpless and inactive in the greater market. It's gotten to the point that most people lie on their resumes, because most of the time it's never vetted. I worked for FedEx for four years. Can't tell you how many managers openly admitted to lying on their resumes to get the position. Being honest in a job interview will rarely land you a job when you have a competing candidate that will lie about their experience and education. You either have to play their game or create your own.

[@tipr8739]

I’m an electrical engineer. I got 4 jobs because I was honest in the interview. Each of my bosses said, I can trust you because you admitted to things that most people would try to hide. I have no idea what I said or did (maybe I have a sprinkle of undiagnosed autism), but apparently trust is the best quality a boss or manager is looking dor

[@patrickmccormack4318]

You hit the nail on the head. Education may be way off the mark with meeting demands.

[@michaelcap9550]

@@patrickmccormack4318 To the Trades! See Mike Rowe YT videos.

[@frosty3693]

But on the flip side I have had many companies lie extensively to applicants. Also in trades, it is much harder to hide incompetence. You either do the job or you don't.

[@effexon]

Id also add to that companies, universities people in general are really bad at recognizing that talent, so more formal education isnt solving anything. Very experienced teached or lowest level supervisor/manager may have good picture of this working closely with ppl, tho it can have disadvantage of being too close to projects and ppl and clouding skills vs environment. But in worklife modern current age, I see so many options and opportunities in those sectors, need to carefully define skills and needs and then also look good overall combination + personality. I dont think this overall assesment is done well anywhere yet, to save applicants and company's time. In best case company could hire people without tedious hiring process and see if it matches with company(there is always chemistry, team dynamics and other factors playing as external factors). Any AI, tech etc system wont remove this problem, as this is expectation, human decision problem fundamentally.

[@tradeprosper5002]

Economists need to do better and figure out an economic system that works for a stable population. Infinite growth on a finite planet was never a workable plan.

[@richardscathouse]

Exactly, Capitalism is best described as cancer

[@simonl4657]

Socialism is the cancer. We don't have capitalism in this country. We have a centrally planned economy masceraiding as capitalism. Prime example is social security. It was ponzi since day 1. It requires an ever expanding population to pay for the older retiring generation. Our money supply requires constant inflation to pay for government prolific spending mostly to fund social welfare Our economic system is a mess primarily because of several waves of progressive policies put in place in the 1913s 1930s, 1970s, and 1990s, up till present day. The socialist destroyed the free market of this nation and then blames capitalism for the mess they created

[@tradeprosper5002]

@@simonl4657 Wow - you sound like a John Bircher... No Socialism, so guess we should fire all the police, firemen and military? Social Security insurance worked fine in the 20th century, but agree we should have taken a different tact than Reagan/Greenspan set (once we saw population growth rate drop which was obvious in the '90s). Free markets don't exist except in your fantasies.

[@jjoohhhnn]

@@simonl4657 Ahh, so if we just took the rails off this baby, the 54 trillion dollar interests of DTCC and the 41.7 trillion dollar interests of BNY Mellon wouldn't be sufficient lobbies to control the economy like a government, but without courts?

[@zer0nix]

@Simon L If social security was so badly planned, why did it generate a surplus for every year of its existence until trump, while also ameliorating poverty and providing for the sick and injured?

[@bobross4886]

I like how EVERY possible course of action is on the table no matter how convoluted or ridiculous with the exception of simply raising wages. It’s time to gut our managerial, academic, and executive classes.

[@szymonbaranowski8184]

mechanisation, people being replaceable parts and only a number in costs spreadsheet I can't believe Hippies didn't come back yet a few Teds K could improve things really fast...

[@lbsaltzman]

Wish you had mentioned how difficult and expensive life is for parents in the US - a real disincentive to bearing and raising the next generation. This is especially hard on women workers. Companies could support workers who also want to raise their children - more flexibility, incentives for parents, for parental leave, child care, for supporting them during the most difficult ages and encouraging parents back into the workforce when children get a little older. Women's issues are now at the forefront of the labor crisis and during Covid a lot of women just decided if they had to choose between family and boss, forget the boss.

[@NickMart1985]

Women in the workforce trying to "career build" will reveal itself to be a failed experiment.

[@jessicantina]

I can't be the only one that noticed "huh, funny that as the women's LFR shot up the TFR went down". but obviously even in countries with very strong protections for parental flexibility and leave it doesn't seem to help much (e.g. parts of europe).

[@NickMart1985]

@@jessicantina thats because there can be no real balance between a real career and a complete family.

[@alreadyblack3341]

@@NickMart1985 Martinez gang

[@deborahdanhauer8525]

What he didn’t mention is many of these women now work for themselves online. They can have flexible hours and make a living while being there for important events with their children. The number of women owned businesses, big and small, have skyrocketed.

[@jean-christophesicotte-bri1315]

"Dont raise waiges, go get workers from your local prison, so that you as a business owner don't need to pay your workers, the population will do it for you as the gouvernment subsidizes prisons"

[@jjoohhhnn]

The free market at work. How many slaves you need?

[@jjackandbrian5624]

hm, i just realized that if that actually happens police brutality and the over-arresting of people for minor things will skyrocket to fuel the slave-prisoner market... i could use that idea for the book i'm writing

[@jean-christophesicotte-bri1315]

@@jjackandbrian5624 look at Clinton's 1994 crime bill if this interests you

[@amyfox3877]

For a moment, I thought he was just talking about offering training programs... and then he started talking about working in prisoners before they were released.

[@a.g.3540]

@@amyfox3877 SO the take home message if you are a parent in the US and can't afford to pay for a college degree. Tell your children they will always be assured of a steady employment, All they have to do is go to jail! Presumably the longer the sentence the better...🤔

[@jakemcmahon5603]

You had me until "the thing I'm not a fan of is raising wages".

[@user-rf1nn8sg3f]

Prices go up even more or people become unemployed.

[@Thatguy-mo8jd]

If wages increase but bread doubles you are not better off

[@JoyfulChristine]

How can we expect people to work if they have no hope of making a living? Exploiting prison labour at least takes care of workers' costs of living (the taxpayers pay it), but won't this encourage the investment class to increase incarceration levels to ensure they have an adequate pool of labour? In recent years, those employing non-skilled minimum wage workers have repeatedly threatened to automate before raising wages. So? Where are we at with that? Now seems like the perfect time to make good on that threat.

[@NadeemAhmed-nv2br]

As someone who's currently studying computer science and AI, I have to let you know that was mostly an empty threat at least for the next decade or two primarily because that's because dexterity requires a lot more processing power than replacing white collar workers. So why we can automate a good chunk of lawyers doctors and people who sit on their job, it is much harder to automate Tradesmen and others.

[@NadeemAhmed-nv2br]

Also thanks to the 14th Amendments loophole, prisoners can legally be enslaved so I guess the plan is to use slavery to buffer the labor shortage. Of course we pay the slaves 10 to 15 cents per hour so people can't point fingers at us that were enslaving them even though that's exactly what's being done

[@JoyfulChristine]

@@NadeemAhmed-nv2br Gee, ya think?

[@TarsonTalon]

The thing about machines is that they don't make good consumers. Even if you reduce your labor costs to zero, you're still going bankrupt when nobody can afford to buy your product, because they don't have a job. Money is supposed to be like life blood for a country; yet these people who keep making windfall profits are acting like artery plaque.

[@JoyfulChristine]

@@TarsonTalon Agreed, but maybe they're not thinking we're going to have a consumer driven economy in the future. It looks like they're accruing all this wealth in advance of returning to some sort of feudal model, in which most people are commodities to be exploited or pests to be exterminated.

[@mattstatton2884]

You glossed over raising wages saying it just makes everything more expensive. That is only true it the ratio of earnings between labor and capital stays the same, if executives and owners were willing to take a smaller slice of the pie there would be no need to raise prices. If you look at the ratio in the so called "golden age" it points straight to that.

[@jizzlemcskizzle3076]

This this and more of this. He lost me when he skimmed over that and then went on to say that we should just use prison labor because it’s cheap 🤡🤡

[@ValcanaTaichou]

@@jizzlemcskizzle3076 People here congratulating this guy for saying "lets just use slaves (14th amendment)" instead of raising wages... wtf?

[@leesnyder9144]

"raising wages doesn't work because inflation" lol

[@truthlove1114]

CEO pay needs to be tied to the wages of its lowest employee. -a CEO can only make X times the amount of its lowest worker. This will raise the pay of the lowest work force, create jobs where people care about their company. A CEO in California cut his salary and made the minimum pay for his lowest employees $70k. He now has employee loyalty, they stating it completely changed their lives. They began buying homes and having more children. And they will be employees for life because they feel valued.

[@GK-op4oc]

"A CEO in California cut his salary and made the minimum pay for his lowest employees $70k" Large benefits and salary has the effect of using more contractors and hiring much more selectively, as well as getting out of profit-sharing or stock grants

[@nicholascarter9158]

@@GK-op4oc Total compensation is total compensation is the only approach that's going to work here.

[@jonathanstreeter2205]

The answer to getting greater labor force participation is ABSOLUTELY about creating better wages (living conditions)! The extremely wealthy have become even more extremely wealthy over the past 15-20 years which means we need to transfer wealth from that super-elite to the general population.

[@thomasm5922]

Needs to be in wages. The problem is the government just wants to take in tax give out for votes. this destroys motivation. No government solution because they need problems to survive.

[@zer0nix]

Why invest in wages when there is little demand and little growth, and when speculation, rent seeking, and begging the govt for handouts is far more profitable? A tax is levied on the most 'successful' so that they who have benefited the most can feed back into that system that made them strong. Aside from that, taxes should be used to discourage destructive behavior, such as the parasitic real estate speculation that is currently reducing supply for first time home buyers and is creating a new bubble. That money, and the tax 'loopholes' that will be used to prevent paying that money, can then encourage more fruitful behaviors.

[@j.f.fisher5318]

over the past 40 years, actually.

[@j.f.fisher5318]

@@thomasm5922 except if you look at the "tax and spend" era before Reagan, the average annual deficit was 1/2 the interest on the debt, and the burden of the debt as a percentage of the GDP was falling steadily year by year from a high of 125% at the end of WW2 to just 31% when Reagan took office. Before Reagan the debt was just our leftover spending from fighting WW2 plus a bit of unpaid interest. Then Reagan came along and tripled the debt in 8 years, and destroyed the whole economic system of high taxes on the greed of the wealthy that encouraged the wealthy to invest in long-term economic growth instead of short term profiteering, destroying the unions that helped ensure workers had a seat at the table, and turned America into a debt-riddled capitalist dystopia where the total debt including corporate and personal debt is now close to 4x our GDP.

[@karolakkolo123]

Your last sentence completely breaks the is-ought barrier. Cannot get more ignorant than that. You took a fact and magically turned it into a statement of what should be done about it, without the slightest explanation of why

[@Sheepy19801]

Why isn't one of the solutions to offer child care assistance as a business. My childcare costs have skyrocketed over the last 5 years and Covid took down daycares and schools. This is incredible that you went through all this work with a neat presentation and you forgot that part about "HAVE MORE CHILDREN"

[@nathanroberson]

It would seem to give a larger advantage to some families over other. I want the government to get out of social engineering. It should treat each citizen as an equal. You should not be penalized for not having children. If you think about it a lot of people who don’t have children it’s because it’s a good financial decision. Economy should reward people that make good financial decisions. Pay everybody more and then the ones that used to have children can pay for them out of pocket. And people to choose not to have children are expressing their liberty.

[@sitka49]

@@Bob.Jenkins 2 words:( not saying this is total cause but contributing ) life style and of younger couples wanting to live child free ,travel ,money, freedom no obligation's a lot of kids living at home in there 20's and 30's yet, and The average cost of raising a child born to a middle-income, married couple is approximately $267,000 (in 2021 dollars) over a period of 18 years- or more than $14,800 a year per child for a typical two-child household

[@decus9544]

That's not going to fix the problem. Higher female participation in the economy = lower birth rates. This can be seen everywhere in the world, and since that's not going to change, the fertility rate will remain low and falling.

[@briandbeaudin9166]

The planet is crashing due to the degradation caused by too many people. And your solution to a labor shortage crisis, is: 'to have more children.' Completely disregarding the fact that the planet can't sustain the people we already have! Reducing the population would reduce the demand for goods and services, and would also reduce the need for plundering earths precious resources. Initially, lack of labor causes some issues, but over time the demand will equal the supply of labor because the baby boomer crowd, which is basically a big bolus of population passing through the digestive tract of time, must be given time to natutally age out and die off We have to let this excess population diminish, rather than trying to support it by creating an even larger bolus of population, which eventually will have to be dealt with as it ages by an even larger expansion of population.

[@sitka49]

@@briandbeaudin9166 So what would you be happy with ? living like nomads in the fertile plains hunting gazelle? "The planet can't sustain the people we already have! " - Hmm data? or pseudoscience data? what's the next entitled generation going to do when they can't get the iPhone because there not enough people produce, take it off a ship or take care of infrastructure for that matter when it goes down , and to keep them going - In fact I had that issue the other day internet went down, I called about it they said " they can't guarantee, when it would be up, they don't have enough people to do servicing " I remember back the 70's so called experts touting that we were going to run out resources and oxygen by the early 2000 that panned out about as good as the Y2k bug. For the last 2000 years I'm sure there’s been someone standing in a road somewhere with a sign END OF TIMES - REPENT , at some point maybe one of them will be right 😁 But more than likely it won't be it from human interaction, climate change is more about politics than science, it's about money distribution than anything .

[@rustymason3860]

I've tried applying for dozens of those "exploding" new job postings, but received very little response from employers, which makes me suspect they are not real or serious. I believe demographers are missing important information in their models.

[@hotchicsf]

He did say that the explosive new job postings are from the 'no education/low education needed' end. We don't need more bankers and librarians. We need more plumbers and carpenters and truck drivers. There is a dire shortage of service workers.

[@practicaltheory6604]

Depends what qualification you have dude , doesn't matter if you have a PHD in some stupid gender studies or other useless field ....but if you have anything in STEM then we are talking business .

[@kynchan3332]

@@practicaltheory6604 Most of stem is garbage theory. Watching the degree holders (with next to no experience of manual work, even when their extracurricular activities should be actually making things) trying to machine something and needing to make components compatible is painful. The shortage is in skills, hands on and not possible to outsource, particularly in the trades. Ironically, I have 2 degrees Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering, both not leading to much. But luckily I grew up with plenty of tradespeople, people with skills and could produce something (car mechanics, electricians, welders, builders, plumbers, carpenters, chefs and farmers) and got to work with some of them. The trades led to so many opportunities, the degrees a load of painful rounds of time wasting. (As a young person I was extremely angry to have been so misled, being sold the degrees would be the instruments of upward mobility, but it was actually the trades that were the secret blessing in disguise.)

[@michaels4255]

@@hotchicsf Plumbers and carpenters are not really low education. There is a lot to learn in those fields to be competent at the job.

[@marianhunt8899]

I agree, I think its all spin. Losds of training companies who will train you for a fee but there are no real jobs at the end of it.

[@whenpigsfly3271]

I saw this coming back in 2005. I was working on a construction site and every single employee there was over 40.

[@timothykeith1367]

I think the aging of the workforce is even more apparent in Japan

[@Teporame]

@@timothykeith1367 think again, Spain depopulation of small towns is terrible, same with Italy. It is obvious we need immigrants, but many idiot see an invasion of our country an not the opportunity to replenish our workforce. I see the people in the construction industry in Texas and a big chunk of them are latinos, yep the very same people that we have been rejecting is the one building our houses, how ironic! I commented to a border patrol officer if he knew how many of the workers working to replace his roof were undocumented, and he said: I don ask and I do not care, I need them right now, because nobody else is going to come to fix my roof. Do you see the hypocrisy?

[@NEMO-NEMO]

@@Teporame I’ve often asked myself, how come it’s taken so long to make illegal immigrants legal and absorbed into our culture and economic responsibilities. How can you possible hv an illegal immigrant, working in this country for 10-15-20-25 years and no pathway to citizenship? And now we need more people but still no path to citizenship.

[@jessicali8594]

High schools teachers in the '80s, '90s & '00s (noughts) ardently promoted college over the trades, regardless of the consequences.

[@jrus690]

The US is actually doing quite well for this, we have the best demographics, the problem is that a whole bunch of young people have been persuaded that the certain industries are bad, so do not go there. Plus lots of young people think that they should only have a Liberal Arts degree and nothing else. You can work the energy/trades/etc. businesses and have a Liberal Arts degree, eventually you will be the only ones working those sectors and therefore nobody will care about your identity politics because it will be the same stupid discussion.

[@jackgoldman1]

Also factor in currency debasement. The minimum wage was $1.25 in 1966, one ounce of US Treasury silver. In 2021, that would be one ounce of silver at $30 per ounce for a US Treasury silver dollar. Instead the people get $15 minimum wage. US public debt was $320 Billion in 1966, now $30 Trillion in 2022. Very dangerous since LABOR must pay the debt. Who wants to work when income taxes are 50%? Labor has been grossly abused since 1966, globally. There may be some blowback.

[@thomassenbart]

Bringing silver into the equation is wrong. Neither the min wage in 66 nor today was created in relation to precious metals. Also, labor does not pay the debt. The debt is paid by taxpayers, which is likely not low wage folk but rather highly skilled and or professional workers. Some 49% of all Americans pay zero fed income tax, which means they are not paying down the debt but likely are instead receiving govt. aid in some form or other. Also income taxes are not 50%. I think you simply do not know the economic situation.

[@TylerMoyer]

This man certainly sounds like he knows what he's talking about, and manages to completely miss the point. No one wants the jobs because they don't pay well, there are no benefits, and they don't see a point. If you're already doomed to living in squalor why work harder? The cost of living has skyrocketed, everyone under the age of 40 is living with roommates, and wages haven't kept pace since the middle 70s.

[@marksherrill9337]

Agreed. We are going back to 1936. I think we will only buy necessities. Home ownership is becoming unobtainable for a larger group.

[@jaggillar6680]

Corporations want what they want and are used to getting it from their workers, in spite of the data. The pervasive idea for the last few decades is that one is so gd lucky to have employment. Workers who cannot pay basic needs on their income do not feel so lucky.

[@KevinChavis]

Great points on demographic trends, however, your last point about our education system being solely for employers is off the mark in where we should be going. Education should be about more than just about jobs and working for an employer. The USA still has a manufacturing and boss-oriented authoritarian education system. If you want a democratic society, democratize the schools and teach our younger generation about things they are actually interested in vs. spoon-feed them what bureaucrats in both major parties demand. The best way to fail future generations is to sanitize what they learn and limit their parameters rather than allow them the freedom to learn because education is a life-long endeavor - not just something you do until you get a job.

[@talmoskowitz5221]

Thank you! This needs to be said again and again. Teach them how to debate, how to disagree respectfully, and how to persuade. I wish anyone had talked to me about patent law and invention, not just science and math, or the difference between a misdemeanor and a felony. I took shop and technical drawing, but nothing on offer regarding becoming my own boss, never. Department of Defense schools are actually pretty good, but teaching independence wasn't in their scope of vision.

[@MasterGhostf]

@@mattnah8352 Need both, need education to have an educated populous, but skill training is a short term to ge the worker the skills they need to use the tools.

[@eriknervik9003]

Why do we want more democracy? That’s what got us into a problem in the first place.

[@KevinChavis]

@@eriknervik9003 I believe you're confusing democracy with capitalism. At least in the USA, we have the best democracy money can buy - it is a fake, sham democracy that was set up for minority rule. Why should Wyoming have the same power in the Senate as Florida or California? Why should the Supreme Court be appointed for life and remain unelected? Politicians should be fighting for the will of the people, not the will of the rich and those already powerful.

[@eriknervik9003]

@@KevinChavis The people of Wyoming or Florida, do not have more representation in the Senate than California. The state of Wyoming has equal representation. Because the Senate is a deliberative body established amongst equal states that form the United States.

[@user-te5po4bu8o]

If you look at those help wanted signs, they say UP TO $15/hr. When you apply there, they offer significantly less, even if you have a great resume.

[@macmcleod1188]

Summary: slave labor is cheap so let's use that. This is why we must make prison labor illegal for anything outside of road work and license plates. We're already seen cases in the private prison industry where they're finding pretext to keep people in prison longer and to keep the wages they earned as prisoners.

[@storyls]

“Instead of raising wages for your workers in this environment of record profits, you should instead utilize prison slave labor.” Seriously? I thank you deeply for the analysis of the issue but is this really the solution?

[@ryanolep1078]

I’ve sent my resume out for a few jobs I was totally qualified for and was told the company went with someone else via email. The job postings are still online. I’m wondering if these job openings have anything to do with the free government money these companies are getting.

[@PainlessTrader-h1u]

In order to legally flood the country with H2B visas and further crush the middle class. The companies have to demonstrate that the job openings are not fillable by USA Citizens. The massive amount of job openings are bullshit. More wag the dog, lies. Industries that are truly under staffed show large increases in salaries. If you don't see wage increases then you know the shortage is bullshit

[@effexon]

@@PainlessTrader-h1u ah companies learned old soviet/communist wisdom to lie to gain money etc... problem is public sector suffers if they blindly trust these companies coz as we see, many companies still do business in china for hopes of better profit.. But I wonder wouldnt 40M+ illegal/non-citizen people in US already can fill something.

[@rabbitsforyang8273]

remember those TPP bailout loans? condition for repayment waiver is rehiring laid off workers, but if you post an ad and no "qualified" candidate then loans also gets waived

[@talmoskowitz5221]

Write the Secty at Department of Labor, not the funds administrators. They can ignore you, but not if they get challenged by another cabinet secretary

[@effexon]

@@rabbitsforyang8273 well that means TPP was failed legislation.... shouldnt pass anything you cant monitor, that just breeds grey market economy and disobedience.

[@NateJGardner]

What workers get in exchange for their labor has continuously been worsening. Long term savings? Homeownership? Ability to even rent an apartment without roommates? Benefits at all? Pay that keeps up with inflation? Being treated with dignity at work?

[@user-rf1nn8sg3f]

Depends on where you live. Some markets are very affordable others you need 3 jobs to scrimp by. Most of Ohio (except columbus) has affordable housing.

[@mistylm2365]

Personally, I am a grad student and I am not going back to work until my thesis is done. I worked the first couple of years I was in grad school, even tho it was a struggle. When C19 hit, I worked till 2021. I even picked up extra shifts to cover sick leave and folks quitting. During the entire time it was overwhelming clear how little my own welfare meant to my company and the public in general. I kept thinking about how if I got sick it would put me in financial ruin. It just got to the point where it wasn’t worth the stress or the risk. Once I figured out a family member I could stay with until my thesis was finished, I left the work force. As interesting as all this is, I think there is a failure to acknowledge that folks may not find working beneficial anymore. Whether it’s the stress, health cost, child care, family dynamics, convenience, or the gap between the rich & the poor, idk but it sounds like there is a lot left out of this discussion.

[@brookcodyprice]

Mike Rowe has been pressing this point for years... the trade schools get bad press and are under-appreciated and the emerging labor force has been lead to believe that universities are the ticket to a good job... this is the result.

[@joshbobst1629]

But Mike Rowe is wrong about these trades being good paying or there being enough of them to solve our problems. I believe he mentions welding in particular, but the median income for welders is about $44,000. Not starving, I guess, but certainly not good. Not good enough for a family anyway. He mentions there are four million of these jobs, but there are ninety million US workers making less than $31,000. That's the median wage, and there are something like 180 million workers here.

[@michaelcap9550]

The College Industrial complex.

[@michaelcap9550]

@@joshbobst1629 Trades are better than Humanities any day.

[@brookcodyprice]

@@joshbobst1629 Good point. My brother was a welder and left because of the pay and the toxic fumes. I would say that many "college degrees" end up in entry level office jobs or baristas at Starbucks. Plus, trade schools cost so much less than universities and the schooling is shorter... you got to account for that as well. Many of these kids are still paying off college 15 or 20 years after they left school.

[@gopnikmax4119]

Give me 100k and i will be a welder. Offering me 12$ an hour and they can stick their welding stick up their ass

[@kentw.england2305]

At 33:19 he gets to the point: Partner with institutions that can supply you with labor, for example, prisons. Go on, tell us more. How do you fill the prisons? How do you keep the prisoners in prison? Eliminate parole. Use the surveillance apparatus to put more labor in prison. Incarcerate the homeless, student debtors, voters. Let us use modern slavery to keep our capitalist wealth increasing.

[@jjoohhhnn]

The USA is going to fall like the USSR, give it 2-6 more years.

[@wecare838]

@@jjoohhhnn "doomsday planning are we? What makes ypu say so? He claerly showed that other countries in the competition is in a worse shape."

[@jjoohhhnn]

@@wecare838 it's pretty obvious, since Jan 6th the condition the country's in

[@jjoohhhnn]

@A. person yep, that's the plan if we don't stop these mf

[@got2kittys]

Maybe if wages had kept up with inflation for the last 15 years. Health insurance is more than a whole minimum wage job's pay. As an ordinary guy, without a degree, I made 2 to 3 times as much as a handyman than any job would pay. And If prices went up, so did my fees. There's no such balance in a job working for the typical company today.

[@SelfMadeHundredaire]

Oh no! Those poor corporations. They might actually have to pay their employees better. 😁

[@richardscathouse]

Naw they'll just move to Laos, Cambodia

[@jjoohhhnn]

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm sure we can bump up those incarceration rates.

[@seththomas9105]

@@jjoohhhnn Yeah, get a good job in construction building new prisons next to manufacturing sites. Win, win!!

[@richardscathouse]

@@seththomas9105 sounds like California. Who still has more in prison than in China.

[@richardscathouse]

@@jjoohhhnn Prisoners just don't make good line workers and telephone staff

[@michaels4255]

"working age" is rather arbitrary. Until the latter half of the 20th century, most people worked for as along as they were physically able and this was considered perfectly normal.

[@DillyPutty]

But now, in a more productive economy, many of those people have the financial assets to walk away. There are plenty of openings for burger flippers; how many millionaires in their 60s are going to sign up for that?

[@richardscathouse]

Exactly, retirement is for the rich. Until very recently, for most, it wasn't an option.

[@suprensa4393]

Are you suggesting we go back to before the 2nd half of the 20th century?

[@andywomack3414]

@@suprensa4393 That is the Republican agenda. 1908 is their target date.

[@michaels4255]

@@andywomack3414 Some Democrats argue quite literally that we should return to hunting and gathering as the most "sustainable" way of life.

[@jhanlon241]

This is brilliant! I hear so many people coming up with BS reasons for the struggling economy, and it was right here all the time.

[@TheRealNCYank]

I’ve been aware of this coming demographic drop for a few years. And it got me thinking: humanity is not just going to shrink down to 0. There is some minimum to where eventually enough babies will be born to bring the numbers back to replacement level. It will just be a lot lower than what we have now.

[@gorkyd7912]

I think most demographers are graphing that global population will level off at around 10-11 billion, rather than dipping down lower than it is right now. Of course there are huge amounts of assumptions involved in this. I think the US population could go back to growing, it's interesting to note that urban populations have far less children than rural populations, so any migration toward rural living would potentially increase population.

[@demetriusjohnson5358]

The problem is: what happens when there are wayyyyyy too many old people versus young strong healthy workers? That's the issue my friend. And will that young generation be ready for such a task? With our godless culture, certainly not. Great Evil is on the horizon. But honestly it's of our own consequences from our choices. We've laid a snare for ourselves. And God will mock us when we are caught in our own net. Cost of turning our backs on God and His Righteous ways.

[@jayhershey7525]

When you break it down, he came right out and said that he suggests going to prisons for workers. He proposes another Union-busting tactic already employed by the bosses. Why not go to the employers and say, "Let your business unionize." Or better still, "Encourage your employees to join or form a Union." Then workers will have more money, better healthcare coverage, therefore much more incentive to work at that facility.

[@jensenwalsh621]

Hello! I am a beginner Karl Marx scholar, and there is a concept from Marx that I think describes quite well why employers don't allow unions even when it benefits them and society in general: "commodity fetishism". It's not what it sounds like at first, "fetishism" in this case refers to an irrational fixation on goods in the marketplace and how they can make money. Basically, because employers usually work in an environment in which they are completely secluded from the actual work being done but reap the benefits from their workers' labor, they slowly start to see their workers as basically being machines that create goods and/or services, which can be sold for money (not that all employers see their workers like this, just that this view is easy to take because of their environment). Whenever workers act on their own behalf, this old order is broken and employers can sometimes feel like their control over their "machines" is slipping and that their livelihoods are threatened as a result. Think about if your coffee maker decided to talk back to you- even when his demands are fair (and even makes the coffee more delicious), it's still very off-putting! That's why employers don't allow workers to unionize even in a situation when it would benefit them- it would loosen their control over their workers and prevent them from bleeding their workers dry down the road. I hope this helps!

[@jayhershey7525]

@@jensenwalsh621 yes, Jensen Walsh, it certainly helps. Thank you so much!

[@MrWaterbugdesign]

Men can be happy living simply. The more we work the more we have to pay in alimony and child support. Working has become less attractive to men. We're happy women are working more, earning more, better educated. I'm an American man, retired 20 years ago at 45 as a software engineer. If I'd kept working I'd be paying huge alimony and be forced to keep working to keep up those payments. But because I dropped out $0 alimony. And I'm very happy with a simple life.

[@Snarge22]

Treat men like shit and they'll respond by not participating. Family/divorce courts are certainly one significant source of the problem. And the thing is, men can turn their backs on society and not tell anyone. Ghost if you will. It will be awhile before society notices this.

[@lockandloadlikehell]

Lol why would I be paying alimony and child support??

[@Snarge22]

I thought of another element Water Bug, that is high earning solo people, more often men as hey pursue higher earning work, pay significantly more in taxes as they have few deductions. What a penalty for being highly productive and yet very low burden on society. I can imagine those like you who hit the work/pay hard, and invest while doing it, have an incentive to retire early since tax rates on investments are lower. Good job to you!

[@Gumardee_coins_and_banknotes]

I never get why you have to pay alimony, child support I do. We have alimony in Australia but it goes both ways and is not common as mos people do not know about it.

[@conniead5206]

I hope you didn’t make any babies. My sister’s first husband “accidentally” shot her in the leg while cleaning his gun. If he had not “accidentally” shot a friend doing the same thing, we might have bought that bullshit. She fled with their two small sons. One took a couple of years to stop walking on his tip toes. That was due to his frequently angry dad. He was a traveling musician and was able to hide his income by being paid under the table. Not until his adoptive mother died when his kids were 17 and 18 did they get some back child support. She owned a home. No skin off his nose. My sister has worked hard her entire life. At 71 she still works full time. Without a college education she went from bookkeeper to Controller of the company she has worked for for 39 years. She is extremely smart. Gave up on men after her second husband turned out to be a pedo. Both sides complain about the other. There are just as many bad exes of both genders.

[@bobchannell3553]

Doesn't "out of the work force" include people who have just given up getting a job, and not just those who have exited the work force by choice?

[@thomasschellberg4235]

"Out of the labor force" includes every noninstitutionalized civilian over age 16 who is not working nor looking for work. Thus, it includes the two groups you have mentioned, but also retirees, non-working housewives or students and others.

[@MrKongatthegates]

Uh, yeah

[@MrKongatthegates]

@Anderson if they ever had a decent job they would have probably kept it

[@bobchannell3553]

@Anderson Who wouldn't want to do what they want all day, rather than what their employer wants. What is your employer, god? We're not slaves yet, although they're working on that.

[@zer0nix]

@Anderson Isn't unemployment limited by time and amount and lifetime limits, as well as by your previous level of taxed compensation? Your replies sound like an outdated myth, much like reagan's welfare queens.

[@informationcollectionpost3257]

Exactly what our economics teacher taught us while I was getting my MBA in 2008. I could never get my mechanical design/engineering job back after spending 15 years working in it and I never really got a job as an MBA. I did get a 3 year paid internship with a government agency but it kind of looked like our government doesn't spend time & money training older white males and preferably anyone over the age of 50 years old. Came back to the area I graduated from with my MBA only to discover that companies don't want to employ people over 50 years old especially if they have any education beyond high school. The jobs they will employ you for are through employment agencies and so physical in nature that some 20 year olds cannot perform the job and the rest run from the job. Also, most of the employment agencies don't provide any, as in zero benefits. The 20 year olds can get hired directly after only 6 months or less on the job, while the older crowd had to wait 5 to 7 years. The 20 year olds were also given the easiest jobs. Coming into 2017 to 2018 companies started hire the older crowd but only for the hardest jobs. Wages for these jobs jumped to as much money I made as design engineer after working for 10 years. That was the only good news. Today it all remains the same with the local companies trying to eliminate about every older worker they can through injury, retirement, or just making your day difficult. The companies are also giving the unqualified high school graduates jobs in the engineering, HR, and management positions. Lastly, a sizable amount of the work only gets done through the efforts of the older generations who for some known reason are retiring or working less while at work but not at home. I train people fast and well but I am still in the same entry level job I did 3 years ago. In short, companies no longer value hard working or educated people so if there is a labor shortage they can thank their mid through top management and the government's aggressive equal opportunity policies. This country is screwed up & I can not wait to retire and possibly move elsewhere.

[@Maya_Ruinz]

Seeing these numbers really drives home the need to get your family in the upper percentage of wage earners before all hell breaks lose and it becomes impossible. I'm a 2nd generation American and I have already had a talk with my nieces and nephews about the need for education and wealth building. I don't plan to have kids so I'm already planning to give whatever wealth I generate to my younger relatives all in the hopes of getting them to invest it for future wealth building within the family. I will never make it into the upper middle class but I can at least try to work on getting my brother's grandchildren closer to the top.

[@andywomack3414]

Would you be surprise to learn that the vast majority of Americans will go to their graves with negative wealth? And the way our education system is set up those advanced degrees come with a life-long burden of debt in order that they to will go to their graves with negative wealth.

[@Maya_Ruinz]

@@andywomack3414 it’s all a crap sandwich and everyone has to take a bite, if it makes it easier for them then they at least have a better chance then I did.

[@talmoskowitz5221]

This! I'm seeing so many peers whose parents pulled their kids up through hard work and thrift to achieve a one rung rise let their own kids coast.

[@Gisiebob]

if "all hell breaks loose" wealth might not be of any help at all. I would argue if you think you are looking down the barrel of a gun as we might very well be doing is forget about wealth and focus on community. the jobs that are needed by those around you I think is where you can find meaningful value.

[@d.e.b.b5788]

What I continue to be amazed by, is the number of employers who complain about no one applying for jobs, who still won't raise the starting salaries for those jobs.... and still wonder why no one wants to work for them.

[@patrickdegenaar9495]

Interesting presentation. I don't agree with the conclusions though. Wages have been lagging capital for years. It is time that labour restored its percentage of profits. More fundamentally long term we need automation, automation, automation!

[@richardscathouse]

Decades actually.five year's ago I accepted i'd just have to jump jobs every year if I wanted a raise.it didn't matter as so few have a pension plan or a way to get vacation time where I live.California

[@demetriusjohnson5358]

Automation is key my friend. But it will still only lead to quote a dystopian world. No avoiding though, we made our bed and now God is going to make us lay in it.

[@mrbonanza2606]

What you are missing with the wage going up debate is the fact that the floor is already up and wages have not kept up, its gotten so bad that most Americans can't really afford to participate in our economy. We need wages to match inflation if not there will be huge shrinkage of customers which does not bode well for a consumer economy. America does not work while wages are kept artificially low.

[@DillyPutty]

Wages on the low end will have to come up. Period. They have been lagging productivity gains for decades. The fact that inflation has been outpacing wage gains tells you the inflation is not driven by wages but by pandemic supply shortages and money temporarily injected into the economy. For higher paying jobs, employers will have to offer more flexiblity and a better work environment. Pay has often been adequate but work environment not ideal. The crap Americans have to deal with in the workplace (psychopathic bosses, lack of benefits taken for granted in the rest of the developed world, etc.) is unacceptable.

[@Rays_Bad_Decisions]

It amazes me how this guy thinks he is an expert on labour but has obviously interviewed Zero blue colour workers. Wages have not gone up my whole life and I have been working 25 years... I am lucky I went to college on scholarship and have a house. Almost everyone I know my age or younger live with there parents or rent. Outsourcing and regulations has destroyed the ability for anyone to start a company. 50k in regulations (permits) to build a new single family house where I live in California... Explosion in people working for Uber or side hustles... To say the money is in the Economy is a JOKE!!! All the money that came out was grabbed up by the rich and corrupt. Look how much the rich grew richer and non profits... You mention population declined "for some reason in the 70s". Learn about the Nixon shock and inflation... It's really obvious what's wrong. Raise people's wages, increase tarrifs and rebuild infastructure. It's called the American School of Economics created 100+ years ago by the people that made the country. China is following it why not us...

[@Nightdiver20]

Dude, you can't compare California with the rest of the country. That state is a lost cause. A blue collar worker can indeed live quite well in the parts of America that are still, well, America.

[@Rays_Bad_Decisions]

@@Nightdiver20 as long as Democrats don't control where you live.. Boston and New York is just as screwed also. Wages have not raised in the last 25 years....

[@jjoohhhnn]

@@Nightdiver20 That's not true, people's standards have declined. There was a UN report where they said that people in the Appalachians were living like they were in a 3rd world country.

[@zer0nix]

Is it democrats or republicans who want to raise wages? Is it the dems or repubs who pushed for nafta part 1 and started the outsourcing trend? Is it ds or rs who wish to invest in infrastructure rather than privatize and cut costs? Was it the ds or rs who wanted to regulate the flow of capital and capital handouts vs deregulating and letting markets and businesses regulate themselves? Also, California is a terribly expensive place to live. If you can save some cash, you should be able to move to a state with fewer regulations more easily than vice versa.

[@Rays_Bad_Decisions]

@@zer0nix clearly republicans. The Democrats increased taxes on INCOME. That only effects poor people that are employees not employers... Wakey wakey. None of the Democrat spending has gone to infastructure... It's like the Democrats calling everyone else racist while the most racist counties in the country are all long term DNC run counties. They do the exact opposite is what they say...

[@mxv456]

"my least favourite solution is raising wages. Everybody losses, except maybe the workers" amazing

[@philipshuler5806]

What's amazing about it is the number of people who can't understand that if they raise wages they also raise prices and nobody wins.

[@zer0nix]

@Philip Shuler could that possibly be because every economic study that has ever been done on this has shown that increasing wages increases prosperity far above the increase in cost of living? After all, it's not as if workers are only producing one widget per hour. The concomitant price increases are minimal while the increase in economic activity as well as financial security as well as the bottom line for corporations is high. Forcing employers to pay their employees better is a bitter pill that nonetheless improves welfare, surprisingly for all.

[@philipshuler5806]

@@zer0nix You get your studies and I'll get mine.

[@wecare838]

@@zer0nix plus automation factor is also there.

[@ValcanaTaichou]

Turns out his favorite is using slave labor (14th amendment) instead. Much cheaper than having morality.

[@oneperson5760]

Companies making record profits, yet my sons job wont give him more than 39 hours per week, and he has a crappy irregular work schedule. He’s their most skilled, most reliable worker, and theyre about to lose him because he wants more regular work hours.

[@simonl4657]

Thank all the stupid regulations for that

[@zer0nix]

@Simon L Indeed. Were it not for the disastrous push for a 'living wage' or 'worker protections' or 'overtime', I'm sure your sons employer would love to have him for as many hours as could be possibly had in his lifetime, and in his sons lifetime and his sons lifetime and his sons lifetime... So many hours of gainful employment could be had if we could be rid of this destructive notion that all work must be paid. The fact that your son wants more hours is proof enough that labor should be its own reward. Arbeit Macht Frei! Nevermind your chains, let us be rid of democratic parasites and let work set you free!

[@Jaqrkazi]

I think the best way to sum this up is that the high paying jobs have now become a necessity to maintain a decent standard of living thanks to inflation and economic mismanagement. But there are only so many of these well paying jobs and now we have a whole generation that has specced their careers around those fields, rather than relying on service industry work to make ends meet. The demographics have shifted and now companies that need low-skill labor can’t find anyone because the workforce has gradually graduated upwards towards the better wages.

[@tylerminix2028]

The way we treat felons and ex-drugs users in this country is appalling. You need go no further than your local penitentiary to find willing and capable men for those laborious jobs. They're ready, very willing, and capable. But no. Instead, we shut them out and sentence them to life of menial or, in many cases, no respectable work. It's no wonder the recidivism rate is so high.

[@whyaminotoriginal]

Thanks for pointing that out i forgot how many Americans are sitting in jail for non violent offenses

[@hellbythedashboardlight1730]

yes we really should be nicer to rapists, murderers, and pedophiles

[@petemorton8403]

Imagine entering workforce one year before boomers hit it. Unions, great wage gain for 7 yrs, houses ten fold increased but we're cheap to buy still. No way to struggle.

[@owenbenson7650]

There are still way too many people in the world versus the natural resources. That issue was not addressed. I failed at Capitalism and Capitalism failed me. Time to rethink our economies. What do we really need and how to get it.

[@tylernemeth5624]

We haven't seen a noticeable increase in wages in over 15 years yet the cost of living has gone up. This debunks the myth that paying people more makes the cost of goods go up. In fact, the periods of lowest inflation are times when working-class were paid the most in comparison to the profits the companies they work for, makes

[@johcybulski1503]

anyone who can, should stop working and paying taxes. Why make politicians and corporations rich, when all they do shit on the rest of us. Bring this corrupt system to its knees! Lets go brandon!

[@richdobbs6595]

This is so backward. Real pay for low skilled jobs has dropped down since housing, food, and energy have gone up considerably. Labor participation rates are low because companies don't value employees as much as they used to. More of the labor of getting things done is accomplished by machines. Not only automation, but also trucks, cranes, backhoes, forklifts. The value of labor is low because there are so many people. Yet many of those people that might otherwise be working are also stock holders and home owners. Their equity has gone up with this massive currency injection into the economy. So what they get from working just isn't that valuable. Job postings are meaningless, because there is almost no cost for making a job posting. Immigration is low because conditions are so bad in America. At least in managerial and skilled labor, we are transitioning out of a market economy into a feudal one. The jobs that remain are being handed out as patronage, rather than an exchange for merit. After all, the relative importance of the stock market lottery is higher than normal returns on performance.

[@richdobbs6595]

​@Anderson First, this only affects a fraction of the work force. Next, the largest aspect of this is retirement. The folks that have saved for retirement previously that unemployable are burning through retirement savings. Or their housing equity. Others are getting by, but not managing to sock anything away. So when they eventually they will be old and then they will be dependent on welfare. A lot of folks have large amounts of debt that they will not be able to repay. And the lenders will be bailed out by printing money. So this is wealth redistribution, but not by straightforward welfare programs.

[@zer0nix]

@Anderson There was always gleaning, even in feudalism, and the modern day poor glean off of govt largesse in the form of corporate welfare, in the form of 'worker protections', 'minimum wage' and literal govt credits which are putatively intended to raise the standard of living of the poor as said credits pass from their feckless hands into those of the more productive rentier class. As republicans have righteously made it more difficult to collect these credits, the poor have seemingly adopted the habits of migrant labor, choosing to work for only part of the year and being homeless for the rest, or else living on cheap land in the outskirts of town, as the cost of living is actually quite low once you subtract the cost of rent. The answer is to criminalize poverty, particularly now that there is increased recognition that slavery has never truly ended for the criminals. If the poor will not exploit themselves to their own benefit then we should exploit them to ours, and thus create a truly 'Great society'. Civilization has appeared mostly the same for the last 15 thousand years of history until that most ignoble creation of that most inurious thing, the citizen, with their so called public services and universal human rights. Humanity has been on the downswing ever since.

[@darkfool2000]

This has also happened at the same time that the gini coefficient has gotten worse. You should expect Populism on the left and right to increase, not decrease.

[@christianlibertarian5488]

I believe that coefficient will start to reverse. Supply/demand and all that.

[@MichaelDeMersLA]

The printed money makes the Gini worse as assets become worth way more relative to wages. As much as we’ve seen wages increase ($15 -$19 for McDonalds per hour), asset value is increasing faster. Inflation and printing more fiat currency always makes the Gini coefficient worse.

[@angiesavage5039]

@@MichaelDeMersLA Average wage increase increased by 11% while inflation increased by 6% during Biden's first year in office. Inflation is bad when wages remain the same. Inflation does not matter if wages increase past the rate of inflation. Wage increases help everything. It's just a myth that wage increases do nothing because of inflation. We've been trying that failed experiment for decades and this is the result. Why not try something that has worked in the past? Like giving people a wage they can at least live independently on.

[@zer0nix]

Not so long as local legislators get to choose their voters. "In the bourgeois countries, it is not important how they vote, but how they do the counting."

[@omeryehezkely3096]

@@angiesavage5039 Median earning were up 2.6% YoY while inflation was 7%.

[@ChickenTherapyHomesteader]

Honestly COL is so unequally distributed in America right now. People who actually want financial stability need to get out of the big cities and coasts while they still can. My wife and I, as well as many of our friends were able to purchase our suburban homes either in college or shortly after because COL is so low in Kansas. IMO being able to have dozens of options on how to spend your money each weekend just doesn't compare with financial stability, owning your own home, and a healthy bank account balance.

[@gilesclone]

The problem with wages is we’re paying too high a percentage to the top. The pay curve desperately needs to be flattened.

[@LQ-C]

I think one reason people are leaving manufacturing is because most manufacturers have been bought out by hedge funds, there are very few local owned manufacturers. Most big corporate hedge funds treat their people terribly, at least this is a big problem in the area where I live. Also there is basically little to no manufacturing left in the US. There are plant closings every day somewhere in the US.

[@richardscathouse]

Bought out and offshored and are not coming back.. Can't raise a family working at Starbucks

[@agemo82561]

I agree with everyone' comments about this being a great presentation, well presented. Your solutions are admirable. A big problem I see is that bosses are "scorpions" who will not change, and will drown with the "frogs" who are holding them up. So, as you noted, it will take at least 10 years for us to see improvements. I hope I'm wrong, but I haven't been wrong in the 20 years that I have worked for the govt entity that I work for now.

[@jjoohhhnn]

That's cause capitalism's needed socialism since the end of the homestead days.

[@richx5064]

There is a bigger picture to all of this. Many economists agree that a growing population is key to a growing economy. If that's true, then the world is in deep trouble. Western democracies can attract foreign workers. But what about other countries. Who dreams of moving to Iran, Bulgaria, China. Most countries planetwide can't attract workers. If the world population is shrinking, then most countries will have shrinking economies. Western democracies don't operate in isolation. If 3rd world economies tank, they will take the West with them.

[@joshbobst1629]

It's certainly true that growing populations will make the economy grow. An economy is people exchanging goods and services, so more people = more economy. But that's not what's driven growth since the Industrial Revolution. Learning how to use the energy stored in fossil fuels has, because wealth is created by labor, and machines powered by heat engines can do monstrous amounts of labor. Before the heat engine, wealth increased at a rate of about one tenth of one percent, and you can make your adjustments for population growth or decline. After the heat engine, in capitalist economies, that jumped to 3%, a huge difference, and it means economic output doubles every fourteen years. It's increases in productivity that is the key driver of economic growth in the industrial age.

[@richx5064]

@@joshbobst1629 Productivity does not matter if there are no new customers. If the US population drops by half over night, why build more housing. Who are you going to sell the new house to.

[@justinokraski3796]

Climate refugees will work

[@zer0nix]

@Rich X You will sell those houses to the same entities buying them now: real estate investment firms seeking hard assets, in hopes that they may retain their value when all else collapses.

[@arbornauts5244]

Hi Emsi. We are coming for you. We don't need you. We are awakening to a reality where people like you(property holders that create no value) may no longer steal from our labor. We are the value in the world and we shall take it for ourselves.

[@mugglescakesniffer3943]

Schools are there to educate not to serve corporations.

[@baronvonjo1929]

I worked in a manufacturing type setting and during that time looked up more in the industry. They honestly treat us horribly to a extent. The pay better than retail but the hours are hell. I noticed I would be so exhausted amd have no drive to do anything on the weekends and it was hoenstly hurting my life. They constantly had people coming and going. I was thinking about trying to keep up with machining but just about every other place I could find was about the same and I found out about the blue collar labor shortage and it wasn't really hard to understand why. Now I work in retail. I don't know what I'm going to do with my life. I tried joining the military but was rejected. I work at Ingles and I would really recommend not ever working there. The turn over rate for employees is incredibly high as they honestly don't pay well and expect more and more without raising pay all while the managers and stuff make double if not triple our wages. Honestly just checking out of life seems easiest. There are no good jobs that care for you any more.

[@brianminerly5755]

“Recognize that your people matter, and change how you value your employees”… just don’t raise wages!

[@katherinasainte9621]

🤣

[@eckiuME23]

And yet wages won't go up, and rents won't go down. Ummm 🤔? So much for all the economics this guy knows.

[@eddienazareth667]

He also talks about inexistent immigration.. i thought Brandom had by today almost 2 million of them illegaly smugled in the middle of the nnight so far... I'm not against immigration, unless they don't come here by the front door and through the legal means.. Political advertisement: Vote METEOR 2022!! It worked well for the Dinosaurs 65 million years ago.. Just saying.. 🥃

[@joeburkeson8946]

As children in the late 50's/early 60's we were instructed to be ready for an atomic exchange were the cold war were to heat up. Later we were drafted off to Vietnam to serve in a war aimed at preventing people living on the other side of the world from exercising self rule. No wonder there was a wholesale refusal by our generation to procreate children to feed America's military industrial complex. I knew for sure that I would remain childless sitting under my desk in grade school waiting for the bombs to fall and never regretted the decision, it could have been so different.

[@katiehettinger7857]

Companies have become arrogant, people don't exist to serve companies, companies exist to serve people. Schools don't exist to train workers, the exist to educate citizens. Many people in the last two years have had the time to think about what makes them happy and working for most of your companies did not even make the list.

[@dscrogum]

Thanks for the info, now to get over the obsession with not raising wages.

[@tomhavenith2330]

24:00 For a lot of Millenials, especially those living in big cities... it certainly feels like living in a great depression. Even I as a Gen-Xer can recognise that.

[@tipr8739]

One of the reasons that that labor participation rate is so low amongst high school and less than high school diplomas is because in the last generation the migration standards were scrapped. Typically the folks who migrate are either from the bottom quartile or top quartile of the IQ pool of a country. So as migration increases, there is MORE competition for college education level jobs, and more folks putting a tax burden on the welfare system. The bottom quartile of countries where migrants typically come from consists of people who usually cannot read at a high school level in their native language, so the hope of filling those semi-skilled trade jobs is not going to happen with migration.

[@brunopadovani7347]

You are generally correct, at least where south of the border immigration is concerned. I would say that where Asian and European immigration is concerned, the US generally gets the best and the brightest of those gene pools.

[@seththomas9105]

This is a facinating video. One thing I found rather funny is his (paraphrasing) "Well, higher wages are ok, but not really." Hmmm. I wonder if he tells CEO's and executive mgt. that their obscene pay is not really a good thing? I understand the concept of inflation Vs. wages and the argument both ways. This is why I will take un-taxable benefits every time. Also US industry needs to understand that humans need to have a work/life balance with decent compinsation. working on call 24/7 365 for 40 years is not doable, yet there are companies demanding that.

[@travisgarrett9398]

I worked for a company in the delivery business(not the ones that come to most people's minds) and my trainer's wife was expecting a baby this December. Well, he asked for two weeks off unpaid when the baby is born to be with him and his wife. His supervisor said he could only take 2-3 days off. So my trainer, who I was taking the place of gave his two week notice. This company paid me $2,500 wages while I was being trained, all because they wouldn't let my trainer take two week to be with his wife and baby.

[@vilenailieva9452]

Unbelievable but true. Corporations do not make any sense!

[@yolo_burrito]

We saw the retirement cliff coming for years. Most large corporations decided to not bring in and develop new entrants.

[@lincolnlu9869]

In a world where most employers are still treating their employees poorly, all you need is to do a little better to attract top level talent. Headhunt for midlevel positions, not just C-suite.

[@maytons]

Imagine a system of consumption called economics which requires eternal growth in a finite world.

[@terryhickman7929]

Don't have to, we're in it and it's only gotten worse the last 50 years. It is insane.

[@bananajar2830]

If I understand this correctly, the basic summary is; don't pay employees more, utilize forced labor to fill the void...

[@arxaaron]

The answer could not be more simple: Fully share the profits with the workers who create that wealth. Economic equity. Boom. Done.

[@joshcheatwood1602]

On the slide US population growth by decade, (23:56) you state “Our population growth of 2010 to 2020 matched where it was right coming out of the great depression when people were very afraid to have children because you couldn’t feed the children that you had. Yet we replicated that in the last 10 years without a crisis.” The point I would make is that you don’t get that kind of a drop in population growth without a crisis. It’s just that the crisis is something you don’t want to acknowledge or talk about.

[@peterbonucci9661]

The reason 55+ people were dropping out of the workforce was (and is) massive age discrimination. That's not people just deciding not to work, that's people being forced out of the workforce.

[@blkequus]

you got that right. And the reason so many are choosing part time work is that those are the people who get social security. They end up working part time to supplement their SS checks. A lot of people over 50 lost a huge chuck of their retirement money in the "Great Recession".

[@mtn1793]

Sounds like these are the same guys saying that over population isn’t a problem. That economy is more important than ecosystem. That money is more important than love. They’ll die with the rest of us. Just be more surprised by it.

[@richardscathouse]

In America,

[@mtn1793]

@@richardscathouse Land of dawning consciousness.

[@daviddewey2107]

Wages are the only thing that matters because companies don't do anything else for their employees. All the rest of those "benefits" are just hot air because there's no such thing as job security.

[@rhobesauce]

No one wants to have kids because it's economically untenable, yet raising wages (guess who gets paid wages? parents.) is cast out immediately as a non-solution.

[@ISpitHotFiyaa]

In my experience in changing jobs pay is the number one thing. Well, really quality of life. Locate your company in a desirable place and offer good salaries and you'll get plenty of applicants. But the greater issue here is the impact of low fertility rates on the nation as a whole - not just some cheapskate company. We shouldn't accept low fertility as some inevitable thing and we really need to reverse it. As noted we couldn't solve our demographic issues with immigration even if we wanted to. So we need to figure out why people aren't having children and do something about that. It will probably take a change in our culture and that won't be easy but we need to do it. There are people who don't want kids of course but I suspect there are a lot of people who do but who are having trouble getting themselves to a position where they can have them. There are probably several factors in that (relationships, career stability, finances, etc).

[@robertschrum5496]

By cutting the 'War Budget' in half and then moving to disburse the saved money thru the 'IRS' to all at-home parents until the youngest child reaches their 8th birthday would relieve the child-care crisis and give certainty to young parents.

[@tipr8739]

@Anderson Check out Jolly Heretic

[@therealextractedjuice]

@Anderson I'd say the usual term girls/women use is, "I'm focusing on my career," or in other words money.

[@MrKongatthegates]

Feminism. The death of Christianity in favor of a lust for money and personal indulgence. Various sexual orientations. Birth control options. Family planning. Things are so different today. The generations are so different especially females in their goals, personalities and upbringing. Kids used to be job #1 for women.

[@zer0nix]

@Anderson Good thing then that we will be getting rid of 'free speech' thanks to trump. Trump judges are selectively enforcing 'freedom of speech' in order to conserve hierarchies which despite being eminently natural somehow require govt assistance for their continued existence. If women don't like being chained down by a feckless husband, lets see how they like it being physically chained up in a prison cell :) MAGA 2024

[@seminole676]

"I'm not a fan of raising wages" = It'll make my wages lower

[@pebblepod30]

If housing & other costs of raising a family were cheaper, more people would likely have children.

[@guru47pi]

Got to adjust those household earnings, etc for inflation. Pre-1975 vs post 1990 prices make almost no sense otherwise. Also of course labor force participation goes down as boomers retire. Also a big problem post-COVID is that conservative estimates are that 4 million people are affected enough but long COVID that they can't work the way they did before. We didn't just lose 1 million, mostly older people to death, we lost millions more to disability.