Infrastructuring More Poverty
Post come from the Economist.
This demotivating effect may be at play in rising wage inequality. In an illuminating 2002 paper [subscription required], labour economists Donald Deere and Finis Welch report that in the late 1960s high school dropouts worked on average only 270 fewer hours in a year than all men in their prime earning years. However, by the late 1990s, the number had doubled to 580 fewer hours — a bit more than a quarter of the work time in a 52-week year, working 40 hours a week. This trend, you won’t be surprised to hear, coincided with a trend of increasingly generous welfare benefits.
September 4th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Also coincided with a much more prominent trend of America outsourcing unskilled labor positions. Thanks for playing.
September 4th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
Is that in the post? Where can that be found?
September 4th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
Well, I’m not an expert on the subject so I can’t give you a specific reference, but obviously that shouldn’t stop me from talking about it or invalidate my arguments in any way.
September 4th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
Lame response.
And I take that to mean you don’t have evidence to support your point.
September 5th, 2007 at 8:54 am
You’re seriosuly arguing that America has the same number of available, living-wage paying, unskilled labor positions that it did in the 1960s? The whole story of the American economy in the last few decades has been factory towns shutting down, jobs being outsorced overseas, etc. Did you just sleep through the 90s and the New Economy?
September 5th, 2007 at 10:04 am
I misread you. I thought you were saying it was a bad thing that unskilled labor was outsourced. You are actually saying its a good thing. My bad.