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Originally Posted by Alfisti
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Here is the methodology behind that report (the data can also be downloaded). There are some serious problems with this but that is a topic for another thread.
https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/_c...ethodology.pdf
Clearly there is an issue, nation-wide, in income disparity. This tends to happen when the economy is growing, and it corrects somewhat when there is a recession. Our policy of avoiding recessions seems to have prevented some of the correction, and the disparity is becoming more of a political problem now in addition to an economic one.
That said, I don’t see minimum wage increases as a solution. If they were, the past increases should have done the job. The solution lies in becoming a more valuable employee so that efficiency gains and capital improvements don’t put one on the chopping block. Mechanical innovation has cut into low skilled and repetitive jobs; AI and other technologies are coming for the middle-class white collar jobs very soon. Minimum wage increases and union representation are not likely to save these jobs or incomes. One just has to become more valuable and skilled than other employees. My concern is for the social, economic and political effects of the numbers of people who don’t upskill and are left unemployed or underemployed.