Re:Wages Are Finally Rising, 10 Years After the Recession
by AnthonyMouse on Saturday May 04, 2019 @10:33PM
(#19830746)
> Evidence is that the vast majority of immigrant labor, both skilled and unskilled, are net positives economically.
This is somewhat sleight of hand. The way the economic gain works is that by paying workers less the company can lower prices (which increases volume) at the same or greater profit margin per unit. That's an economic gain, but the gain accrues to the customers and the business while the loss accrues to the employees who either get paid less or lose their jobs. They're different people.
Moreover, even if it's net positive as measured in dollars, who gets the dollars matters rather a lot. If you turn $100 into $125 but the result is that the entire $125 goes to corporations and billionaires when the original $100 had been going to workers, that's not very helpful.
This is somewhat sleight of hand. The way the economic gain works is that by paying workers less the company can lower prices (which increases volume) at the same or greater profit margin per unit. That's an economic gain, but the gain accrues to the customers and the business while the loss accrues to the employees who either get paid less or lose their jobs. They're different people.
Moreover, even if it's net positive as measured in dollars, who gets the dollars matters rather a lot. If you turn $100 into $125 but the result is that the entire $125 goes to corporations and billionaires when the original $100 had been going to workers, that's not very helpful.