[PLUG-TALK] Fair Use, etc.

Jeme A Brelin jeme at brelin.net
Fri Mar 29 01:13:19 UTC 2002


On 28 Mar 2002, Russ Johnson wrote:
> On Thu, 2002-03-28 at 16:13, Jeme A Brelin wrote:
> > How is it that these people are free to quit their jobs?
> 
> They just have to find a new one prior to quiting. There are more jobs
> than people in our society.

If there are more jobs than people, why is there unemployment?

> Maybe not what you want to do, but there are other jobs out there.
> Otherwise, the help wanted section of the newspaper would dry up.

Just because there are jobs available doesn't mean there aren't MORE
people looking for work.

And we're talking about a class of people that have limited skills and
leisure time.  They don't have a free hand with which to grab their own
bootstraps.

I highly recommend a book that is a mix of anecdote and research about the
nature and condition of unskilled labor in this country.  It's called
Nickel And Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America by Barbara Ehrenreich.

The first chapter is available here:
<URL: http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/e/ehrenreich-01nickel.html >

> > Tell that to the food service and hospitality industries.  The demand for
> > workers has been rising steadily for 20 years, but real wages have gone
> > down.  There are more jobs than workers, nationally, but the compensation
> > is not increasing.
> 
> That's because there are workers willing to take those jobs. If the
> jobs quit getting filled, then wages will go up.

You didn't read what I wrote.  There are more jobs than workers.  The jobs
are not getting filled, yet the wages are not going up.

> > The industry can hold out longer than the workers can.  That's the sum of
> > it.  The workers can quit their jobs in protest, but they can't find a
> > better job (better giving/compensation ratio) before they really damage
> > themselves (losing shelter, etc.).
> 
> If there are more jobs than workers, then it's not hard to find
> another job.

Again, read what I wrote.  Not just ANOTHER job, but a BETTER job.

In that industry, there are more jobs than workers, yet no employer is
following that free market principle by which they should be raising their
attractiveness to employees.  THAT is the dilemma.

Why is this theory not holding true?  It's because the wealth of the
employers so far outstrips the wealth of the employees that symbiosis no
longer exists.  The employers can survive without the employees longer
than the employees can survive without the employers.

J.
-- 
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     Jeme A Brelin
    jeme at brelin.net
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