![]() The bad news is that of course it will not last. The pandemic together with the free money from the American Recovery Act the realization of just how rigged the economy is and of who benefits from it that the government can in fact with ease and even efficiency provide a basic universal income, without exploitation of labor the taste for security, leisure, lack of stress, time with family and friends despite isolation and perhaps, simply a radical shift in what’s considered ‘normal’ has opened up a space for a protean new political consciousness. The hidden consequences are also good news: higher ‘unemployment’ means lower consumption means lower carbon costs to the environment. Unless these shortages are rectified, many Americans won’t return to work anytime soon. What’s really going on is more accurately described as a living-wage shortage, a hazard pay shortage, a childcare shortage, a paid sick leave shortage, and a healthcare shortage. In the wake of so much hardship, illness and death during the past year, they’re not going to take it anymore.Ĭorporate America wants to frame this as a “labor shortage.” Wrong. Workers are fed up, wiped out, done-in, and run down. The media and most economists measure the economy’s success by the number of jobs it creates, while ignoring the quality of those jobs. Many just don’t want to return to backbreaking or mind-numbing low-wage shit jobs. Others have found ways to make ends meet other than remain in jobs they abhor. ![]() My take: workers are reluctant to return to or remain in their old jobs mostly because they’re burned out. You might say workers have declared a national general strike until they get better pay and improved working conditions. The media failed to report the big story, which is actually a very good one: American workers are now flexing their muscles for the first time in decades.
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