Mastodawn

Rat Can't Read (she/her)Dec 22, 2023

Everyone keeps touting how the US #economy is supposedly going great because of #JobGrowth. But you should ask, what kinds of jobs are growing and what are they paying? The jobs I'm seeing are paying salary ranges that I was making over a decade ago when I started in my field. I could barely live on that pay then, and absolutely no one can live on it now.

I'm sure #AI is partly to blame for this. Employers will probably use the excuse that if #writing and #editing jobs are all now partly or fully done by an #LLM, then why should they pay so much? Or they will use the excuse that their competitors are using #ChatGPT and similar programs, so they can't afford to pay more. Either way, this is just an excuse to avoid paying people what they deserve.

We deserve a #LivingWage. We deserve #UniversalBasicIncome. We deserve to be paid for our work, our experience and our expertise. If we're not, the economy is not doing well.

#EconomicJustice
#WorkersRights
#neoliberalism
#LateStageCapitalism

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Rat Can't Read (she/her)Dec 22, 2023

It's also worth noting that how the US officially measures #underemployment is very different from how people think about it. Most assume that if you're #underemployed, you're working in a job that doesn't fully use your skill sets, education, or expertise. But "underemployment" in US economic reports only means people working part time when they want full time work.

US economic reports also only consider people actively looking for work. They don't consider people who are #unemployed but have given up looking for work. Nor do they consider factors like #JobSatisfaction.

There's a lot more going on in the US #economy than just whether there are a lot of open positions or not. Even if there are jobs available, if those jobs don't pay well, aren't engaging people's skills, and aren't treating their employees well, then they're not telling the full story.

#WorkersRights
#EconomicJustice

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Rat Can't Read (she/her)

#CovidCautious folks are rightly angry at how the US government, and governments around the world have hidden and obfuscated data on #covid19 and #LongCovid. But the US government has been doing the same thing for years to paint a rosier picture of the economy so that they can ignore the real pain of working people who are #OverWorkedAndUnderPaid. In a way, what the government is doing with #covid isn't new.

So when people claim that the #economy is bad, that they can't keep up with rising housing and food costs, and that the numbers that make everything seem great aren't reflecting their lived experience, listen to them. Ask critical questions not just about the #JobsData being collected but about what data isn't collected and what questions aren't being asked.

We deserve a #LivingWage, #EconomicSecurity, and #EconomicJustice. We deserve #WorkersRights and an #EconomicBillOfRights. We deserve leaders who will listen to us and deliver on their promises for good jobs and fair wages.