- 28 Feb 2024 03:21
#15305798
What are the effects of a shortage of labor on the economy? Would this drive up wages more than prices? Would the standard of living within the country increase?
Why is a shortage of labor never allowed to happen? Why is it that as soon as there is the slightest indication of a shortage of skilled or unskilled labor, workers are quickly imported in from another country? Why is a real shortage of labor never allowed to happen? Do business interests influence immigration and economic policy?
It is supply and demand. An excess of demand for labor and a shortage of workers will mean higher wages, as businesses compete for scarce labor. Karl Marx wrote about "the army of the unemployed" driving down wages to subsistence levels. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reserve_ar ... he_concept
In any of the countries with high standards of living, there are certain jobs that are regarded as jobs native citizens do not want to do. These are not merely all low wage jobs, but also jobs that require high degrees of education but only pay modest salaries. Or jobs that pay only moderately poorly but involve very unpleasant working conditions.
But would the wages and/or working conditions of these jobs be higher, or in some cases better, if there was not so many desperate people willing to fill them? What I mean is this: Would those jobs still be jobs native citizens would not want to do if the "shortage" of labor was not solved by bringing in people from outside the country's borders?
Why is a shortage of labor never allowed to happen? Why is it that as soon as there is the slightest indication of a shortage of skilled or unskilled labor, workers are quickly imported in from another country? Why is a real shortage of labor never allowed to happen? Do business interests influence immigration and economic policy?
It is supply and demand. An excess of demand for labor and a shortage of workers will mean higher wages, as businesses compete for scarce labor. Karl Marx wrote about "the army of the unemployed" driving down wages to subsistence levels. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reserve_ar ... he_concept
In any of the countries with high standards of living, there are certain jobs that are regarded as jobs native citizens do not want to do. These are not merely all low wage jobs, but also jobs that require high degrees of education but only pay modest salaries. Or jobs that pay only moderately poorly but involve very unpleasant working conditions.
But would the wages and/or working conditions of these jobs be higher, or in some cases better, if there was not so many desperate people willing to fill them? What I mean is this: Would those jobs still be jobs native citizens would not want to do if the "shortage" of labor was not solved by bringing in people from outside the country's borders?
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