40% Of Americans Now Make Less Than 1968 Minimum Wage

[bhikkhu]

56. It is a complicated argument, not nearly as simple as the OP would indicate

Looking at bookkeeping, for instance, as an example, which is one area I have worked for 25 years. When I started, a medium-sized company did most of their bookkeeping in ledger-books, with mountains of paper for receiving, payables, payroll, etc. It was tedious and labor-intensive, and more than one person might be required for each area, including sometimes a person dedicated to answering and directing phone and mail correspondence, and a person dedicated to filing and pulling files, and keeping everything in order. Of course, its completely different now - most of that is automated and managed by computers; even the data-entry is often automated all the way through, from sales to bill payments and receipt of payments.

Should the former pay of the entire staff now be directed to the two or three individuals needed to print reports and handle exceptions? Or, in other words, should the current staff of 3 receive the full pay of the former staff of 20? Its easy to argue that wages can be higher, but there's no direct connection (or necessary justification for a direct connnection) between the scale of the productivity increases due to technology advances and what people should be paid.

Realistically, I can do the work of 4 people now, but I don't think I work harder and I don't think my employer would be competitive if he paid me 4 times what I made 25 years ago.

Or something in another area - cranberries used to be picked by hand by teams of farmworkers. Now the fields are flooded and a specialized machine runs through and picks the berries quickly and efficiently. Should the person driving the machine now be paid what the entire team of farmworkers was paid previously? Skilled labor deserves a fair wage, and everybody deserves a living wage, and productivity makes that wage possible, but there is still not a reasonable argument that says the way we used to have to do things should determine the wages for the current modern methods.