The serfs, they are REVOLTING!
WHERE HAVE ALL THE WORKERS GONE?https://t.co/uzlchcYNK5
JPMorgan guesstimate:
35%: financial cushion with unemployment benefits, stimulus, savings
20%: early retirees
10%: immigration and visa issues
10%: rise in self-employment
25% "other": COVID fears, child care constraints pic.twitter.com/eZuR1mlXgU— Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) October 20, 2021
Or, as Karla L. Miller said in the Washington Post last month, “During the ‘Great Resignation,’ workers refuse to accept the unacceptable”.
Paul Waldman, also at the Washington Post — “Workers are feeling a bit more empowered, and Republicans can’t stand it”:
… This is an extraordinary opportunity to look at the economic life of the country in a slightly different way, an opportunity millions of people are already taking. But it may not last. We could look back at this period in our history as a watershed in our approach to work, but the forces of backlash are never far behind any hint of progress.
You can see it at the elite level, with those whose message to the public is Get back to work, you bums. And stop complaining…
What is now being called the “Great Resignation” has many causes. Many of those quitting are doing so because they think they can get a better job elsewhere. Some are starting their own businesses. Some have decided to retire early, even on a smaller income, because they’ve realized they value time more than money.
The quitting is happening at the highest rates in low-wage industries such as restaurants, hospitality and retail. Many have gotten fed up with low pay, difficult working conditions and abusive customers. And many who are still in their old jobs are thinking about moving on.
This isn’t happening by accident. From the beginning, the pandemic was a public health and an economic crisis, and the nature of employment was at the center. When we put the economy into an induced coma in early 2020, we began talking about “essential workers” who put themselves at risk for the rest of us. But what did they get from all those expressions of thanks? Not much…
We have long told ourselves a story about America as a land of limitless opportunity, despite the fact that we know it isn’t true. We tell and retell stories of the extraordinary people who pulled themselves up from dire circumstances to achieve wealth and success, never acknowledging that it’s precisely the exceptional nature of those stories that is the problem. In a just society, you shouldn’t have to be a one-in-a-million genius or a maniacal workaholic to haul yourself to a life free of deprivation…
Open Thread: Working Hard / Hardly WorkingPost + Comments (145)