The rate at which people start applying for their jobs. Clearly, higher than "$20 - $30", which we all know means $20.

Something I left out in the interests of brevity is that there was no mention of taking people off the street and paying for their training. That is the indicator of staff shortages.

People are aware that every job you take or have to move for is an opportunity cost. Not just in getting paid, but also in other places you could live, or other skills you could be learning, or training you have to take.

In other words, if you only get this job for a year or two and then lose it, it's not worth the risk. You'd have to be paid enough to retire on, like football players or anyone else whose career is expected to be a few years long.

> What hourly rate do you think is fair for them to pay their employees? $20-$30/hour is ~130%-180% of the median income for Allegheny County, where the company is located.

So?

Why is it that capitalists can't seem to understand supply/demand curves when it comes to wages?

Playing stupid is a surprisingly effective negotiation strategy when you're holding the dough.

because they are neoliberal globalists, not capitalists.

This sentence has no meaning. It's just pejorative buzzwords. What are you trying to say?

I'm responding to this:

> Why is it that capitalists can't seem to understand supply/demand curves when it comes to wages?

If they were 'capitalists' they would use the same supply/demand curve logic to labor costs as everything else.

Avoid using "fair" there is no fair rate because fair isn't really a measurable/definable thing.

We use the market rate instead (not that that makes it a "fair" rate, it's just what we use for pragmatic reasons). If they're unable to hire, they're not paying/offering market rate pretty much by definition.