This article describes the changes that have reduced labor's share of the economic pie in the US and Europe. In the US the share of income going to wages has fallen by 5%. That means that we have a $500 billion decline in aggregate wages. Some is due to increased productivity, but most of the decline is due to globalization. The world labor supply has expanded and that means falling wages. Attempts to solve the $500 billion gap problem by reforming education is a long term solution that does not address the current problem. There does not seem to be a good solution to the problem short of starting a trade war which is not recommended. Making the tax system more progressive would help but that may not be politically possible.
There is one approach to education reform that might work. We could make higher education available to everyone at no cost. This would provide a private and public good that many would support. It would also provide jobs in a part of the economy that grows GDP more sustainably.
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