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0 pointsseizethecheese1y ago0 comments

I just looked up FRED data on productivity and total compensation (including benefits) and they look roughly in line. Actually, compensation seems to have gone up faster.

To be honest, this comment reads like a political campaign statement, and I’d like less of this on Hacker News.

0 comments

skhunted1y ago

To be honest, this comment reads like a political campaign statement, and I’d like less of this on Hacker News.

To be honest this comment reads like a statement from someone who can’t dispassionately discuss something. The validity of what I wrote is independent of the motivation for writing it.

seizethecheeseOP1y ago

I was reacting to this: “Enough wealth has been extracted from labor. It’s time to give labor its due.” It sounds like a campaign speech.

skhunted1y ago

https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/

This next paper is funny. Notices the decoupling and tries to hand wave it away without explaining why there was no decoupling before the 80s. At any rate note that the graph is from FRED.

https://fredblog.stlouisfed.org/2023/03/when-comparing-wages...

ethbr11y ago

The FRED blog discussion makes an interesting point about whether deflators are calculated from import or export prices changes (or both), and the effects it has on the analysis.

Reminder of how difficult it is to make real-terms adjustments to economic measures over multiple decades spans when a country's balance of trade with the world in different sectors is also changing!

skhunted1y ago

Notice though that the FRED blog post does not explain away the discrepancy but merely mitigates it a bit. Note the decoupling still starts in the 70s. The great wealth disparity that exists today started at the same time. I don’t believe this is a coincidence.

1 more reply

seizethecheeseOP1y ago

The link is absurd. The productivity data is for everyone while the wage data is for a subset of data. If you look at compensation for everyone against productivity it tells a different story

0xdde1y ago

Can you post your comparison?

whatever11y ago

Can you share the links because from what I see the federal minimum wage is stagnant for decades.

seizethecheeseOP1y ago

Search FRED employment cost index.

The federal minimum wage is irrelevant. Something like one percent of workers make federal minimum wage. It’s a good political talking point though…

whatever11y ago

The annual raises seem to be in the order of 2-3% [1]. Inflation is also in the same order [2].

I am asking you again to show me convincing numbers.

[1]https://www.bls.gov/eci/home.htm

[2] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FPCPITOTLZGUSA

skhunted1y ago

Yes, let’s ignore the million plus workers getting minimum wage. A wage that hasn’t increased in a very long time. It’s not a political talking point; it’s a moral talking point.

3 more replies

HDThoreaun1y ago

Less than 1% of workers are on federal minimum wage.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

skhunted1y ago

To be honest, this comment reads like a political campaign statement, and I’d like less of this on Hacker News.

To be honest this comment reads like a statement from someone who can’t dispassionately discuss something. The validity of what I wrote is independent of the motivation for writing it.

seizethecheeseOP1y ago

I was reacting to this: “Enough wealth has been extracted from labor. It’s time to give labor its due.” It sounds like a campaign speech.

skhunted1y ago

https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/

This next paper is funny. Notices the decoupling and tries to hand wave it away without explaining why there was no decoupling before the 80s. At any rate note that the graph is from FRED.

https://fredblog.stlouisfed.org/2023/03/when-comparing-wages...

ethbr11y ago

The FRED blog discussion makes an interesting point about whether deflators are calculated from import or export prices changes (or both), and the effects it has on the analysis.

Reminder of how difficult it is to make real-terms adjustments to economic measures over multiple decades spans when a country's balance of trade with the world in different sectors is also changing!

skhunted1y ago

1 more reply

seizethecheeseOP1y ago

The link is absurd. The productivity data is for everyone while the wage data is for a subset of data. If you look at compensation for everyone against productivity it tells a different story

0xdde1y ago

Can you post your comparison?

whatever11y ago

Can you share the links because from what I see the federal minimum wage is stagnant for decades.

seizethecheeseOP1y ago

Search FRED employment cost index.

The federal minimum wage is irrelevant. Something like one percent of workers make federal minimum wage. It’s a good political talking point though…

whatever11y ago

The annual raises seem to be in the order of 2-3% [1]. Inflation is also in the same order [2].

I am asking you again to show me convincing numbers.

[1]https://www.bls.gov/eci/home.htm

[2] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FPCPITOTLZGUSA

skhunted1y ago

Yes, let’s ignore the million plus workers getting minimum wage. A wage that hasn’t increased in a very long time. It’s not a political talking point; it’s a moral talking point.

3 more replies

HDThoreaun1y ago

Less than 1% of workers are on federal minimum wage.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse