Re:The Wage Gap 2
by malfist on Wednesday September 21, 2022 @12:57PM
(#32927951)
Is it an inequality though? Everyone's seen the baseball game equality comic with the different high people. Equality is when everyone can see the ballgame, not that everyone gets the same height boxes to stand on. I'd argue that this is the same here. I'm the "taller" person because my cost of living is lower, if you give me the same size box (income) as the person in the HCOL area, they might not be equal to me, because I start with an advantage.
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In the literal term, I think it is inequality if one is just comparing the salary numbers. BUT, once variables start to get added(location, personal preferences, the availability of replacements) then you start getting into murkier territory. There are also significant impacts of standardizing pay across regions. There will obviously be a flow of people from HCOL > LCOL/MCOL areas, consumption will increase, local inflation will happen...these things benefit some groups and hurt others. No idea how it would all shake out in the end though.