Re:Low unemployment isn’t worth much if the jobs barely pay
by syshum on Sunday January 12, 2020 @11:35AM
(#22027169)
>>The "goal" of a low wage job is for an employer to make a profit from someone else's labor
That is the goal of all jobs, high, low, middle
Employers are not charity, they do not employ people so they can have a good income.
Employers employ people because they need work done to make money off that work, the second you cost your employer more than they make off your work you are out of a job.
Sometimes that cut off is more direct (i.e if you make widgets your per hour the rate of manufacture can easily be factored into the cost of making the widget) but if you some do something more nebulous like cleaning the floors, or filing papers, that can be harder to calculate but every business does.
Re:Low unemployment isn’t worth much if the jobs barely pay
by tehjoker on Sunday January 12, 2020 @11:53AM
(#22027302)
That's right, but we don't have a society unless people have incomes so maybe this isn't a good model for funding a civil society?
UBI promotes subsistence but crucially allows someone enough time to find more substantial opportunities.
And UBI won't necessarily kill low-wage work – in some ways, it makes space for it. I'm an EMT, and I make minimum wage, and I work 48-72 hours a week on the ambulance. UBI would make it so that I don't need another job to support a family, and could live healthily and with dignity on just those 48-72 hours a week.