Economists practice a “science” that only works in a bubble where nothing else matters. Their catchphrase is ceteris paribus. Sometimes, you have to put national security and the soul of the nation ahead of pure economics. The author pooh-poohs manufacturing jobs (only 10% of the jobs, only 26% in the 70s), but fails to mention that one manufacturing job is the equivalent of approximately 5 of the part-time jobs that the Economists would create for people who don’t have a 4 year degree.
An economist says that a job is a job. You lose a good manufacturing job and have to work in a convenience store and there is no net loss of jobs. In their ceteris paribus world, that is a healthy economy.
“An economist says that a job is a job. You lose a good manufacturing job and have to work in a convenience store and there is no net loss of jobs. In their ceteris paribus world, that is a healthy economy.”
I was discussing this yesterday with a neighbor, the government counts someone who works twenty eight hours as a minimum wage worker fully employed, the same as one who works, as so many used to, forty OR MORE hours at double the minimum wage. You can be making one fourth the income you used to earn and still show up as fully employed.
Manufacturing is a good example of a sector whose performance is becoming completely disconnected from its labor figures. Manufacturing employment in the U.S. has been steadily declining since it peaked in 1979, but our industrial output has grown considerably.
There are many articles written by economists that emphasize rising wage inequality caused by the “hollowing out” of middle-income jobs.