Are retail jobs going the way of farming and manufacturing?

cran, The standard of living in Bangladesh has improved by leaps and bounds over the last 20 years.



The people in Bangladesh don't complain about those low-paying factory jobs, because it has made their lives better relative to where they were. And their standard of living continues to steadily catch up to the western world. What you see as having hurt them, has actually helped them -- relative to where they were.

As their standard of living increases, it comes out of our standard of living -- which is the real issue most Americans have. It is something most Americans don't want to accept. That it is a zero sum game.

Decide what you think is a reasonable wage and standard of living for a worker in Bangladesh. Mandate it. Bypass what the labor market determines is a fair wage and put in a price floor on wages. I'll skip the inefficiencies of those kinds of policies -- how it will force jobs elsewhere. Let's say in some fairy tale land, that wouldn't be the effect. It means, that people in Bangladesh will come closer to living as we do in the U.S. . ... but at the same time, people in the U.S. will have to come closer to living as people in Bangladesh currently live.

We can outsource manufacturing to other places, and the low wages actually improve their quality of life. Just having the factories built there means jobs and an economy that didn't exist. And with that comes modern amenities that improve lives -- across the board. We've seen that.

But increase those wages above a market equilibrium out of a sense of humanitarianism (and not based on what the market bears), and it means things have to cost more in the U.S. and Europe. And that means your dollar doesn't go as far, and your standard of living decreases to support the increase in theirs.

That affects the poorest people here, because they are the ones who no longer get cheap goods that make their relatively low wages (by U.S. standards) stretch far enough.

It would be self-imposed inflation that voluntarily drags the western world down to benefit the developing world.

 

Do you realize how poor Bangladesh has always been, and how much relatively LESS poor it is today as a result of those manufacturing jobs?

No one is arguing that Bangladesh isn't poor. No one is arguing that the factory accidents are good thing.

Now rather than the misplaced indignation at what I stated, how about looking at where Bangladesh was in 1990 relative to where it is now? Which is what I did.

I stated that it has benefited from those low paying jobs -- which didn't even exist. And it's gains come out of the Westernized world's standard of living because it is largely a zero sum game.

Any response to those facts?

It's just a fact that income per capita in Bangladesh has more than tripled since 1990, life expectancy has increased by 10 years and literacy rates have jumped dramatically.

Most people actually would call that progress.

http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21565617-bangladesh-has-dysfunctional-politics-and-stunted-private-sector-yet-it-has-been-surprisingly

http://www.economist.com/blogs/feastandfamine/2012/11/bangladesh

 

I also can't respond to this. I didn't say any of that. Not even sure what you mean. Infinite resources? Western superiority? Can you first explain what you mean by that, and then show me where I posted anything like that? Also, I have no idea what you mean by, "Why do you assume that the Western world will always be the ones benefiting from Bangladeshi death traps?" I'm not sure what it even means, let alone what I assumed anywhere.