ek hornbeck though Larry Summers was a stupid economist. He’s be enjoying what is happening in the labor market even without the government raising the minimum wage. I see this as well past time.
When the president says the goal is labor markets so tight that employers are competing for workers, and wages rise at the expense of profits – if you've followed macroeconomic debates over the past however many years, that's a big deal. https://t.co/s845cZ1Yxb pic.twitter.com/hRWNkQTAXt
— JW Mason (@JWMason1) May 28, 2021
It's also important that he presents labor market tightness as important for power in the workplace. And employment and wage gaps between white and non-white workers as symptoms of less than full employment.
— JW Mason (@JWMason1) May 28, 2021
Poor Larry Summers must be tearing his hair out.
— JW Mason (@JWMason1) May 28, 2021
More seriously, I think people who don't see what a big deal this is, probably haven't been paying attention to the large part of the macroeconomic conversation – including many prominent Dems – who have been freaking out about "labor supply" and wages rising too fast.
— JW Mason (@JWMason1) May 28, 2021
What Biden is saying here is that labor supply constraints aren't a problem, they are the solution – they're how we get rising wages. This isn't just an anodyne campaign promise anyone would make, it's a direct rejection of core Clinton-Obama views on the economy.
— JW Mason (@JWMason1) May 28, 2021
JW Mason is an Associate Professor of Economics, John Jay College-CUNY.
TMC for ek hornbeck