The Jobless Summer - only 1 in 4 teens employed in US

Try some economic content. I know I've asked you repeatedly and you've not obliged, but let's break the cycle

 

LMAO. I can't help it if you don't understand comparative advantage and hate individualism and the invisible hand.

 

I believe it goes even further than that. The U.S. agriculture industry has a heavy reliance on immigrant (illegal/legal) labor.

It depends. Ever heard of "the Penguin and the Leviathan"? A significant portion of the book is centered on how U.S. executives received compensation 200 times more than the average factory worker, where as automotive manufactures in Japan have a 20:1 scale between the CEO and the average factory worker.

I am not familiar enough with the legalities of the Euro corporate structure (essentially, how profit is channeled to shareholders) to provide an adequate answer.

 

But the low wage abundance is certainly not agriculture specific! Reference to illegals is also a little awkward as, in terms of the official figures, you'd be referring to employment types that are under-reported. Do you have any evidence to show that, for example, the US has greater official working poverty because of its agriculture sector?

 

My point is, the U.S. agriculture industry relies heavily on low skill/low wage labor; to which illegal labor is the most likely to flow into.

 

But I'm after an explanation for low wage abundance across the economy. There needs to be a focus on non-agricultural sectors

 

I thought we had already established a low (in a relative sense) wage floor as an explanation for the abundance. Too low of a wage floor disincentivizes automation.

 

this is true, it makes sence to replace a 50,000 a year job with a robot as the 100,000 dollar cost can be recouped in two years. However, someone making only 4,000 a year in Mexico is not worth automating as it would take 25 years to recoup your monrey for the 100,000 robot!

 

It's not summer anymore. You can all stop posting on this thread.

 

That's difficult to use as we're referring to a minimum wage rather than living wage analysis (which ensures a rate high enough to lead to dynamic shift in resource allocation)

 

With the economy the way it is, mebbe dey give up on tryin' to find a job...

Why Teens Are Not Working This Summer
May 27, 2014 — A job in your teenage years used to be a rite of passage and a way to learn financial responsibility — now it seems most teens are just fine with sitting home.

 

These teens cannot be unemployed unless they are counted in the official unemployment numbers conducted by the government...are they?

IMO the '1 in 4 teens employed in the USA' is meaningless...at least in the sense that there could ever be any solutions to this non-problem.

What if the article was written to say '3 in 4 teens choose to further their education, take some time off, travel, instead of securing employment'? How does this change the character of the discussion?

Lastly, since when does any teen living in any area deserve to secure employment? And what percentage of real jobs do teens refuse because they are considered too hard or dirty or don't pay enough? I'm a farmer and we hire day workers all the time and NEVER are American kids/teens interested in doing this work...NEVER!

 

Fairly simple. No incentive to automate jobs that can be filled with low wage, unskilled workers. If the return on automation meets whatever the criteria for the company the jobs will be automated. This of course does not apply to the few jobs that require creativity or adaptability.

I did an automation study for a corporation way back thirty years ago that allowed a plant that took about 1800 employees to be automated so it could be run with under 200. Didn't happen because the company decided to move production overseas instead.

 

Regarding 'low wage abundance across the economy' why are we surprised at this since the quantity of unskilled to low skilled and lower educated workers is increasing, so they compete, and with supply high and demand low the outcome is lower wages. But one key issue with this seldom discussed is most of these workers have nothing standing in their way to obtain more skills and education and increase their value in the workplace...what are they waiting for? The next question is if we have a higher skilled and educated workforce, can the US economy provide enough higher paying jobs?

As an employer, workers are essential in order to create the products and services. A worker is not much different than a material in the sense that each of them are one component of the overall costs to produce something. If there is pressure to reduce costs, or slow the increase of costs, or to deal with the potential that one of the components will not deliver, some form of change is required. If workers demand more while not producing more, and/or if perceived risks arise that labor might not be available, some companies can turn to automation for this change...in the longer term picture. Other companies can outsource and some will close their doors as their inability to compete becomes more obvious.

Lastly, IMO there is no conspiracy by corporations to take advantage of workers or to eliminate workers, and they could care less what the labor costs are as long as they can grow and compete. When they find trouble growing and competing, change is required in order to remain in business. Labor is simply one of the components for potential change...

 

It is pretty naive to believe there is nothing standing in the way of workers increasing their skills or education to get better jobs. I am not saying it can't be done but if you are working full time and raising a family it is not quite as simple as you would pretend. Easier when you are young and have more energy and less responsibilities and harder when you are older. There are also financial costs- not all employers are willing to reimburse education costs.


The whole conspiracy thing by the way seems to be your obsession. Never mentioned in any of my posts.

 

You think it's 'naive' while I think it's all excuses! Either people will increase their skills and education in order to maximize their workplace value or they will not...it is 100% their choice what to do. For those who do nothing to increase their value in the workplace, yet they demand more and more, is non-productive and detrimental to the USA. I am unaware of anyone saying obtaining more skills and/or education is easy? Like anything in life in which we are presented a challenge, we can either get with the program or simply fall further out of the system. And when we fail to take personal action to achieve more in life, it is greed and self-serving thinking going on when those people demand that others pay their way in life. I am sick and tired of hearing about so-called poverty, minimum wage, living wage, income inequality, etc. since all of it is 100% political and meaningless BS. If someone wants more in life, then that someone must take charge of their life and take action to achieve more...this is not naïve...this is reality...