You're probably right, but it ultimately leads to wage compression which is for most of the middle class a disaster.

You don't have to look far to see everyday people complaining about the price of a burger or movie ticket.

IMHO, it doesn't "lift all boats", it pulls down the middle and upper middle classes. Yeah, the lower wage jobs made more money, but they didn't gain much if anything in affordability, since all of the necessities are produced by people also demanding more money.

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tossandthrow 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

All arguments against lower class people getting higher wages are IMHO wildly inappropriate.

"you need lower wages to avoid wage compression", "you need lower wage so we can have more employed people"...

If wage compression occurs, then companies have to deal with Theo senior employees seeking elsewhere - or pay them fairly.

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silisili 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

Today, I'd agree. It felt like a dirty thing to even write.

Historically, the lower wage jobs were for kids or bored folk, who'd eventually move onto something better and higher wages.

Recently, the economy isn't great and people take what they can find. There's absolutely no shame in that. I know people in tech who were making low to mid 6 figures now doing retail. The jobs just aren't there, and I constantly fear I'll be in the same boat soon.

But that inevitably does lead to wage compression, which to be clear isn't the fault of the lower wage earners.

	▲	FirmwareBurner 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		>I know people in tech who were making low to mid 6 figures now doing retail. But in other threads, people on HN said they don't even get out of bed for a 140k remote job. What gives?

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ryanjshaw 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

> All arguments against lower class people getting higher wages are IMHO wildly inappropriate.

This kind of emotional reasoning is wildly inappropriate IMHO.

The commenter is not making an argument against lifting lower class wages. They’re making an observation of how economic theory may apply to this scenario.

> pay them fairly

Define “fairly”?

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tossandthrow 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

> Define “fairly”?

In this context of wage compression it is fairly easy as it is just ensuring that they are paid comparatively more than the more junior employees that apparently are getting the same or close to the same salary.

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wat10000 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

They said it’s bad for one group and neutral for another. How is that not an argument against it?

	▲	ryanjshaw 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		If I make the observation that some vaccines can have anaphylaxis as a side effect, am I making an argument against vaccinations? Obviously not. In that case, you’d take precautions at vaccination sites: have EpiPens available, make people wait 15min after taking the shot before leaving. In this case, I’m sure you can apply yourself and think of ways we can counter the effects of wage compression now that we’ve unemotionally identified the fact that it occurs.

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potato3732842 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

>IMHO, it doesn't "lift all boats", it pulls down the middle and upper middle classes.

It's hard to feel particularly bad for the them when the CurrentShitshow(TM) has largely been a result of the top-ish of the middle being comfortable enough that they're happy to peddle (sometimes at the behest of the most wealthy, sometimes organically) all sorts of bad ideas both economic and social that have kneecapped our economies and torn our societies apart. Like it wasn't the Uber Drivers who thought it would be a good idea to sell out the industrial portions of our economy and make race baiting a cornerstone of national politics.

I feel much greater sympathy for the cohort that currently works $15-25hr jobs and could have perhaps moved to $30-40 roles over time, bought a house and raised some kids in general economic stability if not for fairly self imposed costs and instability.

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wat10000 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

[flagged]

	▲	kingkawn 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		[flagged]

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Hikikomori 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Somehow Europe can pay fast food workers above poverty, including 5 week paid vacation, healthcare and many other benefits without the middle class not being able to afford a burger. America's obsession with forcing people that work full time to live in squalor is insane.