Wage Insanity in California

The State of California has proposed a minimum wage law of $15/hour for the state. Let's just see how that might impact a couple of locales.

                                      Current Median Wage
       
San Jose                                  $27.61                                            
Fresno                                     $15.02

In San Jose, maybe 15% of the workforce is currently earning less than $15, but in Fresno, nearly half the workforce is earning less than $15. What do you think the impact on employment in Fresno will be when employers are forced to pay more to half its current workforce? A freshman Econ 101 student could figure this out. Apparently not the elected officials in Sacramento.

CEO Salaries and Orthodontists

Today the Bureau of Labor Statistics released it's newest OCCUPATIONAL EMPLOYMENT AND WAGES summary. The average Chief Executive Officer (about whose earnings Democrats are very agitated) earned $185,850 -- or 16% less than the average orthodontist (about whom Democrats seem much less agitated). As usual, facts seldom get in the way of a good demagogue.

CEO                                      $185,800
Orthodontist                          $221,390
Petroleum Engineer              $149,990
Lawyer                                  $136,260
Dentist                                   $177,230
Nurse Anesthetist                  $160,250
Anesthesiologist                    $258,100
Airline pilot                           $136,400

Poverty and Marriage

This chart shows pretty clearly what the big predictive variable is in determining whether you might be living in poverty (here less than 150% of the federal poverty line).

The Gender Gap in Awarded Degrees

Hillary Clinton has been very vocal about gender inequities. I'd like to know what her plan is to address the "gender gap" in college degrees.

Manufacturing Jobs Have Nothing To Do With China

Donald Trump (and others) have been complaining that China has "stolen" all the manufacturing jobs from the United States. According to Trump, that's because we make "bad deals".

But the reality is that manufacturing output in the United States is at an all time high. We have never manufactured as many goods as we do today. What's not at an all time high is employment in manufacturing. Below is a chart showing the percentage of US employment in manufacturing.




This trend line is not a result of making "bad deals" with China. The downward trend is 50 years old. It predates the end of Bretton Woods. It predates the union-crushing, deregulating era of the late 1970s and early 1980s. It predates the era of Japanese dominance, the rise of the Asian tigers, and the recent surge in Chinese growth. What is driving this trend is technology. Manufacturers steadily improve manufacturing productivity, automating tasks that used to be done with labor.

This is not going to change no matter how many Yuge Deals you do. Trump is just another in a long line of demagogues who prey on the emotions of the economically ignorant.

Baseball's Elite to Average Salaries Tops CEOs

Where is the outrage that is directed toward CEOs? Why are there not demonstrations at every stadiums? How can we tolerate such injustice.

Let's Be More Like Europeans?

Bernie Sanders and other Democrats think we should be more like Europeans.

Minimum Wage Explained in One Panel

At the same time this illustrates how people misuse the word “worth”. If McDonald’s were to charge $15 for a Big Mac, almost everyone would say "it’s not worth that". But somehow the people who McDonald’s might hire to produce the Big Mac are all “worth” $15/hour because, well, they’re good people who “deserve” to be paid that much. The bottom line is the bottom line. You don't hire people if you have to pay more than their economic worth. No matter how "worthy" they are.

Wages and Productivity

Everyone is complaining that wages are not growing as fast as they used to. Do you think the information below might have something to do with that? Why would you expect wages to grow rapidly when productivity is not?