600 years ago a king tried to deny a post-pandemic labor shortage was real -- and it ended up killing

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

hundreds of people

Apandemic kills off a chunk of the population, especially the more vulnerable working class. The labor force depletes. The labor of the remaining people who are willing to work is suddenly worth higher wages. People in power pre-pandemic want to deny that labor is suddenly worth more than it was before.

It's the story of the American labor market in 2021 — and the onset of the "Black Death," or bubonic plague, in 14th-century Europe.

With over 38 million people leaving their jobs in 2021, the coronavirus pandemic has spawned what some are calling the Great Resignation. Research shows that people want to pursue more fulfilling careers, even without other jobs lined up. Workers seem tired of low-paying, dangerous professions, and want to avoid increased exposure to the pandemic.

-snip-

A new book by English historian Dan Jones makes clear that labor shortages have long followed pandemics, with social unrest not far behind. His "Powers and Thrones," which looks at roughly 1,000 years of medieval history, includes a discussion of the Wat Tyler rebellion, which he argues was really the working class leveraging its power as a result of the labor shortage that followed the Black Death, or bubonic plague.

-more-

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/600-years-ago-a-king-tried-to-deny-a-post-pandemic-labor-shortage-was-real-%e2%80%94-and-it-ended-up-killing-hundreds-of-people/ar-AARXylA

[leftstreet]

1. DURec

interesting article

[malaise]

2. Interesting read

Rec

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

3. That looks interesting.

I just put the book on hold at my local library.

[2naSalit]

4. K&R

[Klaralven]

5. The Black Death killed a third to a half of the population - big difference from Covid.

[Hortensis]

7. :) Kinda. Lots of others. It's normal to emphasize parallels

in histories, of course, some fascinating ones always found. It doesn't sound like this book needs special help building interest, though. Shame it's too late to get it on my Christmas list.

Thanks to Yo Mama for the post. Dan Jones also recommends several other books on Twitter.

[hedda_foil]

6. Just ordered the Kindle version. Thanks!