We also suffer from automation replacing humans. In the most productive areas where most manufacturers locate, factories in Pearl River Delta (Guangdong, Shenzhen, etc.) barely raised their wages for almost 10 years. This is according to my wife's experience, who is a worker from Samsung Display, a relatively “good” factory. International operated factories are considered as first-class factories, having much more welfare and excellent wages comparing to other small scale, private owned factories.
We are unable to demand a raise of wage, because they will refuse and in necessary factories can fire you without any troubles. They can hire other people instead. "There are many people out there. If you dont want the job, many people can do the same job." This is a popular saying. On strike? You will end up in the police station because you are causing "instability" of society. Govs need taxes from factories. Now I will end with a popular black humor among workers :" Work hard fellas, this year, our boss's new ferrari is counting on you"
I am sorry not to have replied. I was caught up preparing for my trip to Tokyo and it slipped my mind. The article you sent me seemed to be about the slowdown in productivity growth. What I was talking about was the gap between productivity growth and wages. So even if productivity growth slowed, wages slowed even more. I did not read the whole article just the initial part. So if I missed something in the article that you wanted me to see, please let me know. Jenna, sorry for the late response.
Richard, I don't understand Tim's comment either, but i think I agree with him ;-)
Where is the premium? Its simply not there, as the Chinese said: ''China’s ...being unfairly blamed for a failure by American plutocratic elites to protect their working class...”
Offshoring US and European jobs to China was supposed to lead to The West focusing on more high tech and advanced industrial production, lead by research leading to innovation and technological advances. Perhaps you remember the promise of a 20 hour working week? As you point out we did see the 'premium' in increased productivity / man hour. And computerization further eliminated much repetitive work and enabled increased productivity. Just think of the revolution in newspaper production from typesetting by hand to computerized print runs to online publishing.
But what we did not see was any improvement in education and thus preparation of the working class for this new world. Instead (as is now obvious) education was degraded to accept lower levels of academic achievement and a move away from the essential STEM subjects to those that are compatible with 'Woke' values. This change has enforced our society's move from increased and improved production to a service economy + financialization and, eventually, printing the money to keep the whole idiocracy afloat.
This is clearly seen in two areas. The invention of the computer + Silicon Valley et al has created a social revolution - online culture. But instead of using the technology to improve our lives Silicon Valley works with the 3 letter agencies to corral us in monopolies, spy on us and nudge us towards a tyrannical society. The latest moves to require electronic IDs and the EU's censorship exemplify this.
Elon Musk demonstrates the way we should have gone. Under his direction Twitter is enabling the free exchange of ideas. He has transformed the assembly line (the cyber truck is 100% assembled by robots), his self driving cars are - effectively - really smart robots on wheels. He has commercialized not only electric cars (while his competitors are abandoning them as too hard to build at a competitive price) but domestic solar panels and battery storage. His satellites are enabling universal access to the internet. His latest rocket is capable of going to Mars and its engines are built with 3-D printers. That is the world we were promised. Instead he is virtually unique in pushing the boundaries and breaking into the future I dreamt of as a kid.
As an economist would you agree there is a chasm between the future The West could have built and the sad state of affairs in which we now find ourselves? If so would you put the discrepancy down to our aging civilization's natural decline, those who control our rotten education system (in the US its Bill Gates) and those politicians who direct our society or something else?
And, if I may, do you see the decline as reversible? Because I fear the banks - stuffed with shrinking bonds and rotting CRE mortgages - will destroy us all before we can turn this around.
We also suffer from automation replacing humans. In the most productive areas where most manufacturers locate, factories in Pearl River Delta (Guangdong, Shenzhen, etc.) barely raised their wages for almost 10 years. This is according to my wife's experience, who is a worker from Samsung Display, a relatively “good” factory. International operated factories are considered as first-class factories, having much more welfare and excellent wages comparing to other small scale, private owned factories.
We are unable to demand a raise of wage, because they will refuse and in necessary factories can fire you without any troubles. They can hire other people instead. "There are many people out there. If you dont want the job, many people can do the same job." This is a popular saying. On strike? You will end up in the police station because you are causing "instability" of society. Govs need taxes from factories. Now I will end with a popular black humor among workers :" Work hard fellas, this year, our boss's new ferrari is counting on you"
See: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the-slowdown-in-manufacturing-productivity-growth.pdf
I am sorry not to have replied. I was caught up preparing for my trip to Tokyo and it slipped my mind. The article you sent me seemed to be about the slowdown in productivity growth. What I was talking about was the gap between productivity growth and wages. So even if productivity growth slowed, wages slowed even more. I did not read the whole article just the initial part. So if I missed something in the article that you wanted me to see, please let me know. Jenna, sorry for the late response.
Why don't the standard productivity measures capture the output premium you describe?
You'll have to explain what you mean in more detail in order for me to reply
Richard, I don't understand Tim's comment either, but i think I agree with him ;-)
Where is the premium? Its simply not there, as the Chinese said: ''China’s ...being unfairly blamed for a failure by American plutocratic elites to protect their working class...”
Offshoring US and European jobs to China was supposed to lead to The West focusing on more high tech and advanced industrial production, lead by research leading to innovation and technological advances. Perhaps you remember the promise of a 20 hour working week? As you point out we did see the 'premium' in increased productivity / man hour. And computerization further eliminated much repetitive work and enabled increased productivity. Just think of the revolution in newspaper production from typesetting by hand to computerized print runs to online publishing.
But what we did not see was any improvement in education and thus preparation of the working class for this new world. Instead (as is now obvious) education was degraded to accept lower levels of academic achievement and a move away from the essential STEM subjects to those that are compatible with 'Woke' values. This change has enforced our society's move from increased and improved production to a service economy + financialization and, eventually, printing the money to keep the whole idiocracy afloat.
This is clearly seen in two areas. The invention of the computer + Silicon Valley et al has created a social revolution - online culture. But instead of using the technology to improve our lives Silicon Valley works with the 3 letter agencies to corral us in monopolies, spy on us and nudge us towards a tyrannical society. The latest moves to require electronic IDs and the EU's censorship exemplify this.
Elon Musk demonstrates the way we should have gone. Under his direction Twitter is enabling the free exchange of ideas. He has transformed the assembly line (the cyber truck is 100% assembled by robots), his self driving cars are - effectively - really smart robots on wheels. He has commercialized not only electric cars (while his competitors are abandoning them as too hard to build at a competitive price) but domestic solar panels and battery storage. His satellites are enabling universal access to the internet. His latest rocket is capable of going to Mars and its engines are built with 3-D printers. That is the world we were promised. Instead he is virtually unique in pushing the boundaries and breaking into the future I dreamt of as a kid.
As an economist would you agree there is a chasm between the future The West could have built and the sad state of affairs in which we now find ourselves? If so would you put the discrepancy down to our aging civilization's natural decline, those who control our rotten education system (in the US its Bill Gates) and those politicians who direct our society or something else?
And, if I may, do you see the decline as reversible? Because I fear the banks - stuffed with shrinking bonds and rotting CRE mortgages - will destroy us all before we can turn this around.