Re: Question about Say's Law

[Bill Lear <rael@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thursday, May 25, 2006 at 14:33:20 (-0700) Sandwichman writes:
>On 5/25/06, Bill Lear <rael@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>...
>Not really. They aren't worried about a shortage of underpaid and frightened
>workers because they have policies and practices in place to ensure a glut
>of those. The problem is those policies and practices also prevent the
>underpaid and frightened from ever obtaining the skills and credentials that
>are required for the higher-paying core jobs. So, rather than giving the
>underpaid and frightened a chance to move up, they would prefer to just
>bring in already trained, experienced and credentialed workers from other
>jurisdictions. In other words, they want someone else to pay the overhead
>costs for them (which is a point the speaker from the BC Federation of
>Labour raised and I seconded).

I don't see much of a distinction here: nurses are skilled, computer
programmers are skilled, but business wants them to be just as unsteady
in their jobs as any other worker.  Getting skills doesn't depend on
security, from what I can see.

My point was that there really is no shortage, just a shortage in
desire on the part of business to pay the going rate --- they feel it
is too high, and they would prefer to lower it across the board.  The
best way to do that is to bring in, as you say, workers from outside,
which destabilizes current workers, driving down costs (for them)
everywhere.


Bill