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A comment on Why are diapers so expensive?. Parent comment

Re:Why are diapers so expensive? by avar on Thursday April 05, 2018 @09:42AM (#16764806)
Yes that may be wrong, however it would have to have gotten much worse for someone buying diapers to be worse off than 50 years ago, since their price in terms of purchasing power has plummeted in the meantime.

I don't know about the average "industrial wage", but that sounds like a bad metric to focus on. Manufacturing in the US has dropped from around 25% during this time down into the single digits, so it's not as common a job as it used to be. If anything I'd expect the wage to have gone up, since those jobs are now more specialized.

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Re:Why are diapers so expensive? by ropeadopepope on Thursday April 05, 2018 @10:59AM (#16765487)
> If anything I'd expect the wage to have gone up

You'd think so, wouldn't you? The truth of the matter is most manufacturing companies are facing the same problem tech is right now: a "talent" shortage. The pay hasn't kept up with living costs in most areas. The days of buying a house and raising a family on an "industrial wage" are long gone. The pay is hardly enough to keep one person alive these days. As a result, nobody wants the jobs. The companies can't keep their assembly lines fully staffed, but they don't want to pay more either.

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