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Michael Swanson's avatar

To the best of your knowledge, have there been any examples of a similar scale event drastically reorganizing wages for an industry? I would be really curious to learn more about that scenario if it exists.

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Jadrian Wooten's avatar

There hasn't been an industry as large as the service industry, so most of them are much smaller. The first one that comes to mind is the air traffic controllers "industry." It was heavily unionized in the private sector, but also had a lot of military operators. There are some good NPR articles on the strike in the 80s and how that changed the perception of unions.

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Dr. Abdullah Al Bahrani's avatar

Really good post. I am surprised that most commentary about wages and unemployment has neglected the compensating differential possibility. Thanks for providing me with content to share when I make the argument.

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Jadrian Wooten's avatar

That might be because so many commentators have never worked in that industry. I still have nightmares about being a waiter and I hadn't waited tables in almost 15 years.

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