Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Poor Wages Enslave the Working Class
In a world where jobs are more limited than people who can work them there is much room for exploitation. Employers can offer a wage for work that does not reflect the value of the work provided. However, the only alternative for the people who work this job is to not have any source of income at all. If they refuse to work jobs which do not pay adequate wages, they must find other means of surviving. What does this alternative mean? The only ways to survive without an income in seem to be surviving off others, stealing, or living in something near a state of nature. The first requires charity which one could never be certain of; the second is immoral and illegal; and the third portrays an absurd life of living in the woods but in reality is being homeless on the streets. Employers seem to be indifferent to this alternative for the workers they do not provide jobs for. The question is whether it is the employers’ responsibility to pay a fair wage. The people they offer jobs to live a better life than those who still get left with no job; that comparison is true. There will always be some people living in that harsh alternative to a waged job; the numbers and reasons for that are debatable. If life with a poorly paying job is better than one with no job at all doesn’t an employer offering that option of a bad job increase a workers freedom? The status quo of that worker is the alternative we originally discussed; the offer of a bad job is actually an option to increase their quality of life. Consider the individual worker’s choice. He has no job and can’t find any job but the one that pays poorly; he’ll take the job if he wants to have that little income. What if the government barred in from working that job because they didn’t pay him enough? He wouldn’t have that small income and the government is limiting his freedom to get it. The counter argument to this is that employers need workers to make money themselves and with government regulations part of employers’ profits would essentially be transferred to the waged workers. BUT, this is taking away the employers’ option of paying lower wages. Does government intervention really increase freedom? Perhaps, those who would prefer government intervention value other things more than freedom.
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2 comments:
Sonny brings up a good point: is there a real difference between working for less than minimum wage and not working at all? Poverty is very prevalent in our society today, and I believe that it is in part the fault of the employer who A) do not have enough jobs for the people hungry to work and B) do not pay fair wages to those who are (ironically) fortunate enough to work. However, as Sonny also states, government intervention could be at the price of freedom, not only of the employers but also of the employees. If the government enforced higher wages, the employers, in turn, would expect higher quality. This would lead to a demand for more qualified workers, and eventually even a high school graduate degree will be required to apply to McDonald's. The worst part about this path is that all of the wealthier people remain apathetic to the depleting availability of jobs to the middle class, as profit-making is their only objective.
Sonny raises several good points. Is the choice between having a ittle bit of wage or no wage really even a valid option? Does government intervention really create freedom? First of all, having a little bit of wage that one cannot survive on is almost as pointless as having no wage at all. If one cannot live off the income provided, why work at all? The bills will not get paid. The food will not be purchased. The car will not be able to be afforded. The home will foreclose. The clothes will fall in to disrepair. Although the money can be saved, if it is all going to go to pay back the interest accumulated by the debt that must be paid, thus the black hole continues. In addition, if the government mandates fair wages does it really help the worker in being free? They no longer have a choice. The government told them what they will make and that is the end. Thus freedom does not exist in this situation.
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