I'm not being exploited any more than I'm exploiting my employer, that's a toxic way to look at voluntary interactions of people doing their best to escape suffering and death.

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pona-a 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It's in the interest of your employer to get the greatest amount of value for the smallest wage. That's not a moral statement about your particular employer, that's just a rational actor model of economics. In turn it's in your interest to expand least labor for the greatest pay. The asymmetry is your employer is an institution that can put incalculable resources into imposing its utility on you, from union busting and productivity spyware to lobbying national policy and conspiring to tilt the labor market... An employer can go months without significant fractions of employees, they can hire an entire hidden backup department in case of a strike, but you'll probably quickly starve without ongoing employment.

	▲	astrange 40 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> It's in the interest of your employer to get the greatest amount of value for the smallest wage. No it's not necessarily, because employment is a repeated game with public information. (Other people can see how much you're paying people by checking levels.fyi/blind/etc.) There's better ways to motivate people anyway - thus tech companies pay with stock grants and performance bonuses.
	▲	thewillowcat 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		And it is in my interest to charge my employer as much as they will pay for my work, regardless of whether or not I would have done it for less. In many cases, I would have, but I still negotiated for more. There are many problems with modern capitalism and the political economy of the world. If you have ideas about how we can build a better system, I genuinely wish you luck.

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lilbigdoot 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

One side is trying to escape suffering and death, the other is trying to create profit from their work.

"Voluntary" is not a word I would use to describe any agreement where one side is choosing between the deal and physical danger or potential death.

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dogleash 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I think the fact we take the temperature of the market and label it as a "strong" or "weak labor force" is a counterfactual to the idea there's equivalent exploitation.

It's mutually beneficial (otherwise one party or the other would terminate the contract), but that a wide window for the balance of benefits to shift.