Re:Ask HN: In this lockdown period, should the world now eva...
by necovek on Friday May 15, 2020 @05:25AM
(#23190351)
It's never been that simple: let me give you a trivial (and oversimplified) example.
A baker's job is essential in almost every country in the world, yet the time and effort required to get to a reasonable level of skill is pretty small. Thus, if compensation was increased, competition in the market would quickly drive the compensation back down again.
Pay is, unfortunately, not proportional to the value to the society.
Humans should and do work on making it fairer, but it's been a long road so far and we are nowhere close to it (but we are better off than a couple hundred years ago).
A baker's job is essential in almost every country in the world, yet the time and effort required to get to a reasonable level of skill is pretty small. Thus, if compensation was increased, competition in the market would quickly drive the compensation back down again.
Pay is, unfortunately, not proportional to the value to the society.
Humans should and do work on making it fairer, but it's been a long road so far and we are nowhere close to it (but we are better off than a couple hundred years ago).