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This assignment focuses on the reasons why workers are paid this low and ways to improve their treatment.

Home, - Improving treatment of American workers

       America is one of the leading continents in the world but still remains behind its peers in terms of salary growth and inequality. It has been a low wage economy since the 1970s. This is not due to the growing forces of globalization but instead due to poor policies implemented by America. America could change course by implementing better policies that would put it on the path towards a high-wage economy like the early times. This essay focuses on the reasons why workers are paid this low and ways to improve their treatment.

Michael McCormack and Jeff Madrick’s view on low wage America.  

       McCormack and Madrick (2018) see low wages in the United States as a result of factors such as social fragmentation, political uncertainty and lost economic output. America’s working class has been divided into groups based on income, academic level and discrimination along race, sex and national origin. Racial inequality has persisted which extends to jobs and wages of Americans. The Blacks and Latino continue to lag behind the Whites in their income. The middle-class white household’s wealth is thirteen times greater than the middle-class black household (McCormack and Madrick,2018) Women, especially those of color, face a large wage gap, as their occupations undermine their earnings. 

       Wages have not kept up with the growth of productivity (McCormack and Madrick, 2018). The output of work and compensation should increase at a similar rate. This has not been the case in America since the 1970s. The productivity gains have been captured by capital instead of labor. The government has also been pointed out to cause the low wage. After the post war, there was a steady increase in both wage and productivity, but since the government changed policies in the 1970s, this has changed.

        The solution to the low wage society is implementing different policy choices. An agenda that is three pronged has been proposed by the high wage America project; full commitment to industrial policy and public investment, practical education and training programs, and raised labor standards and social supports (McCormack and Madrick, 2018). America should invest in areas such as infrastructure, alternative energy and smart manufacturing. Training people upskills them into new and better jobs. The government should also support labor organizations.

Employment apocalypse according to Drum

       According to Drum (2013), he is plotting a warning to the mankind on certain dangers that will elapse in the near future due to introduction of robots. He states that eventually robots will take our jobs and do them better than humankind no matter what kind of a job one does. “I want to tell you straight off what this story is about: Sometime in the coming 40 years, artificial intelligence is going to take your job. I don’t care what your job is. If you dig ditches, a machine will dig them better. If you are a newspaper journalist, a robot will write your articles better. If you are a doctor, IBM’s Watson will no longer assist you in finding the right diagnosis from its database of millions of case studies and journal articles. It will just be a better doctor than you” as quoted by Drum (2013). Therefore, it is evidence that artificial intelligence will eventually take over human kind jobs which will cause unemployment in America. 

Benefits of unions in increasing wealth

       Weller and Rowell (2016) found that most of the secure middle class depends on employees earning just and well-balanced incomes and also their ability to adequately save for the future. Unexpected medical emergencies and spending can cause years of compounding hardships when families live from paycheck to paycheck. However, if families can ensure their savings build up, they can do many things including, preparing for such emergencies, planning to build or buy a home, send their children to university, start their own businesses, and switch to a career of their choice or one that is suited to their skills and desires, all of which that help them secure their future economically. 

       It is important for middle class workers to form wage boards and unions that will help them voice their grievances and forward collective bargaining in the U.S democracy. When workers form unions and bargain together they will get better health and retirement benefits, employers will raise their wages, close pay gaps as well as boost economic mobility in the region. Madland (2015) further stated that unionization of workers would make the government respond quickly to issues concerning ordinary Americans providing political counterbalance to wealthy special interest.  

Inequality and unemployment

       According Baker and Dean (2013) the most straightforward way to reduce inequality is full employment. They further explain that when the rate of unemployment is low, the demand for labor will go high thus workers in the middle class in terms of wages distribution will help them get good wages. High unemployment will lead to a high redistribution of income which causes inequality and unfair redistribution of resources. “ The reason behind this is  when individuals get hired it disproportionately gives benefits to those in the lower half and especially the bottom fifth of the income distribution” as quoted by (Dean 2013). Also, work sharing will reduce inequality because most people will be likely to get jobs. 

Resolving the unemployment problem according Paul, Darity, Jr., and Hamilton

       In President Donald Trump’s government, employment policies that were in earlier years dismissed are now being proposed, one being the Federal Job Guarantee. This program is an idea that states that every American who needs a job has a right to one, at a livable age, with decent benefits. The federal job guarantee would provide a job, for all citizens above the age of 18 that sought one (Paul, Darity and Hamilton, 2018). Jobs considered federal are those within the branches of the United States government, the judiciary, legislative and executive. 

       The Federal Job Guarantee would solve to at a high percent, the unemployment problem. This is because its goal is to ensure full employment where unemployment rate would reduce to four to six percent. This program would also narrow the racial unemployment gap by ensuring jobs to all Americans especially the minorities. This program also includes policies that guard against poverty level wage. 

       With these introduced policies, there is a high chance of America getting back to the postwar era where the wage was equal to the productivity rate. Americans should also treat each other equally especially in jobs to reduce poverty among minorities. Projects that would increase unemployment such as introduction of robots should be well considered before implementation. America, being one of the greatest nations, should do her best to reach its peers in the employment sector. 

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