Labor day is a strange holiday.
Its supposed to celebrate the contribution of labor to our great country but very little is actually going on to do that.
There are some tweets and a few celebrations, but mostly it is more celebrated as marking the end of the summer season and in much of the country the start of the school year.
Labor has lost much of its cohesiveness as Unions have become less relevant to most.
American labor has changed significantly since labor day was first proposed.
It used to be primarily men doing what today would be considered back breaking work but which at one time was perfectly normal.
Long hours, dangerous conditions, injuries and even death were the risk many took working in the mines, the factories, construction and the farms.
If you read the works of Upton Sinclair or other reformers from the first half of the 20th century you get an idea of the conditions.
It was labor unions primarily that forced changes to the working conditions and increases in wages.
We are now in a world where manual labor and unions are not the norm they once were, and workers are living in the "gig" economy where they have to become entrepreneurs often.
Still, we celebrate labor day without much actually reminders of the labor we celebrate.
Enjoy the day and maybe reflect on how hard and dangerous many jobs used to be.
Showing posts with label unions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unions. Show all posts
Monday, September 2, 2019
Friday, August 17, 2018
Parade Lost in the Swamp
Well as Washington keeps getting swampier, the swamp has swallowed up the military parade the dontard wanted.
It was a bad idea in the first place, why pay to bring all those troops and equipment to destroy the streets in Washington when you can get plenty of pictures just visiting military bases.
The swamp in Washington just gets bigger as we see unqualified people doing stupid things.
Of course we have the most unqualified person in charge of it all.
Some still think he is responsible for the improving economy, if it can be said to actually be improving.
The issue with the economy both before the financial crisis and since hasn't always been the number of jobs as much as the quality for certain people.
Technology and the global economy has eliminated the need for many jobs that used to require few skills except the ability to turn up.
Because of previous labor shortages and the efforts of unions over the years many of these jobs paid more than the market could actually justify.
They were easily replaced by technology and the global economy.
The jobs that replaced them pay market rates, which is a lot less than what they used to get.
Its one of the reasons that income per capita has been pretty stagnant as high paying jobs turn into lower paying ones. Of course people with the right skills are in demand and doing quite well.
There isn't going to be a miracle resurgence of low skilled highly paid union jobs in any foreseeable future.
They are also lost in the swamp.
It was a bad idea in the first place, why pay to bring all those troops and equipment to destroy the streets in Washington when you can get plenty of pictures just visiting military bases.
The swamp in Washington just gets bigger as we see unqualified people doing stupid things.
Of course we have the most unqualified person in charge of it all.
Some still think he is responsible for the improving economy, if it can be said to actually be improving.
The issue with the economy both before the financial crisis and since hasn't always been the number of jobs as much as the quality for certain people.
Technology and the global economy has eliminated the need for many jobs that used to require few skills except the ability to turn up.
Because of previous labor shortages and the efforts of unions over the years many of these jobs paid more than the market could actually justify.
They were easily replaced by technology and the global economy.
The jobs that replaced them pay market rates, which is a lot less than what they used to get.
Its one of the reasons that income per capita has been pretty stagnant as high paying jobs turn into lower paying ones. Of course people with the right skills are in demand and doing quite well.
There isn't going to be a miracle resurgence of low skilled highly paid union jobs in any foreseeable future.
They are also lost in the swamp.
Thursday, July 5, 2018
Golden Age
So how is the economy doing?
It seems to be humming along pretty much like it has been since the end of the financial crisis.
The fundamental change is that the new service jobs just pay less than the old manufacturing jobs did, in general.
This may not be a permanent situation but it isn't going to change quickly.
We clearly are developing a have vs have not society.
If you have the skills, talent or connections you can do very well.
If you don't you get to work for low wages and meager benefits, probably with student loan debt hanging over you.
One of the promises of the current administration was that it was going to restore the America where manufacturing jobs and mining jobs provided a middle class lifestyle to millions.
It was an empty promise, which would require fundamental changes in the global economy which are just not going to happen.
In addition, the anti-union approach reduces the possibilities even more.
Clearly the benefits of technology and globalization weren't shared equally.
The approach of giving more to the owners with some expectation that this will lead to good paying jobs is attempting to emulate a period that actually never existed.
The industrialization of America led to exploitation of workers, including children, until they were forced to adopt better pay and working hours via regulation and union efforts.
It wasn't unbridled capitalism, although that did make some people very rich.
Current policies are trying to recreate the golden age of robber barons, not the golden age of American workers, which is a good thing if you are actually a robber baron.
Most of us aren't.
It seems to be humming along pretty much like it has been since the end of the financial crisis.
The fundamental change is that the new service jobs just pay less than the old manufacturing jobs did, in general.
This may not be a permanent situation but it isn't going to change quickly.
We clearly are developing a have vs have not society.
If you have the skills, talent or connections you can do very well.
If you don't you get to work for low wages and meager benefits, probably with student loan debt hanging over you.
One of the promises of the current administration was that it was going to restore the America where manufacturing jobs and mining jobs provided a middle class lifestyle to millions.
It was an empty promise, which would require fundamental changes in the global economy which are just not going to happen.
In addition, the anti-union approach reduces the possibilities even more.
Clearly the benefits of technology and globalization weren't shared equally.
The approach of giving more to the owners with some expectation that this will lead to good paying jobs is attempting to emulate a period that actually never existed.
The industrialization of America led to exploitation of workers, including children, until they were forced to adopt better pay and working hours via regulation and union efforts.
It wasn't unbridled capitalism, although that did make some people very rich.
Current policies are trying to recreate the golden age of robber barons, not the golden age of American workers, which is a good thing if you are actually a robber baron.
Most of us aren't.
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