Ok, if you’re defining it as “market rate” then yes.
Of course, automation is a factor in market rate. If a machine can do your job cheaper than you are willing to do it, then the market says I will “hire” the machine.
Or more precisely, if a machine will do 70% of your job and 30% of your buddy’s job for 90% of the market wage for you guys and you quit because I’m paying 15% less than the current market wage, then I’m going to replace you with a machine and give your buddy a raise and shuffle his duties.
That’s probably closer to what’s really happening.
It depends on what is doing the “forcing”.
If the gov’t does it by setting a minimum wage well above the market clearing wage, then I can see problems.
If the market does it as a reaction to lots of workers retiring and therefore changing the equilibrium price, that is certainly good for the impacted workers.
Stating the obvious to get to the question: Market rate is based on the transaction between a business and a customer, that is, each factor of a transaction has a market rate for that type or transaction. Automation, technological advances places caps on the business’s value of human labor within the transaction.
The question: What do we as a society do if the human needs of the laborer are not met below the cap of the businesses’ determined value?
Yes, what to do about people whose labor is simply not worth a livable wage is a difficult question… made more difficult by an unwillingness to put it in those terms.
These people exist. They will probably always exist. We aren’t doing anyone any favors by disingenuously claiming they don’t exist.
(I’m not claiming anyone on this board actually believes they don’t exist. But when politicians or activists or Facebook memes make feel-good proclamations that everyone who works 40 hours a week deserves to make $X or “a living wage” or similar then they are essentially ignoring the fact that not everyone’s labor is worth that much.)
there’s nothing subjective about that. stop lying. most countries in the world don’t have a tipping system and they have cheaper food and better service
I don’t know if ATMs are the reason that people opened up more bank accounts.
I admit to not being particularly familiar with the fluctuation in the number of bank teller jobs over time. Do you have actual numbers to back up your assertion?
Do you think things like the difficulty of existing in society without direct deposit and credit/debit cards may have influenced the number of accounts and/or tellers, or is it just ATMs?
You said it’s not subjective what fast food workers should be paid.
If it’s not subjective, what should fast food workers be paid? I assume you have an objective number handy and are prepared to defend it if there’s no subjectivity involved.
I don’t. Although they mentioned this in David Chang’s (momofuku’s owner) new show on hulu I think on the automation of restaurant delivery services and its impact to restaurants.
You seem like you have really strong feelings about… something. But I’m not really sure what that something is, or what I’m doing that you think I should stop doing.
But it’s starting to seem like I was not in fact doing whatever it is that you think I should stop doing.
