Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees

Re:Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees by skybrian on Tuesday October 02, 2018 @04:34PM (#18125485)

For a profitable company where wages are a major expense, it seems like lower prices with higher wages can only be achieved with higher productivity. I think an economist would attribute this more to Ford's assembly line?

But sure, a high-productivity business can lead the way on wage increases. Other businesses might have to raise prices to keep up.

I'd like to read more about Ford's effect on wages outside Detroit. This "creator of the middle class" sounds like it might be exaggerated?

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Re:Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees by blattimwind on Tuesday October 02, 2018 @07:24PM (#18126530)

> For a profitable company where wages are a major expense, it seems like lower prices with higher wages can only be achieved with higher productivity. I think an economist would attribute this more to Ford's assembly line?

FWIW productivity has literally exploded in the last few decades.

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Re:Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees by LordDragonfang on Tuesday October 02, 2018 @05:30PM (#18125875)

>For a profitable company where wages are a major expense, it seems like lower prices with higher wages can only be achieved with higher productivity. Productivity vs hourly pay has pretty famously stagnated since the 1970s[1] after being closely correlated for years before. The issue is simply that people aren't being paid enough for the value they add to companies.

[1] https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/

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Re:Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 for all US employees by airstrike on Tuesday October 02, 2018 @08:17PM (#18126752)

That first chart totally misses the hourly compensation upside that's observed abroad. Globalization really kicked in during the late 20th century so that's to be expected.

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