US workers need better skills and more power

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Harry J. Holzer, opinion contributor

We all know that U.S. workers have suffered stagnant earnings and great inequality for several decades.

Since 1979, median U.S. worker wages have risen only 10-20 percent (depending on how we measure inflation), while profits have grown dramatically. Inequality between workers has also risen, especially between high school and college-educated workers. Pay for corporate execs or financial managers has skyrocketed, and the pandemic has only widened these gulfs.

When trying to explain these outcomes, economists are of two minds. One group stresses competitive market forces - like technical change and globalization - and the fact that college-educated workers are more likely to work with new technology or imports rather than be replaced by them.

Indeed, both technology and international trade are responsible for the disappearance of millions of good-paying jobs, in manufacturing and other sectors, for those with high school or less education. And, as "artificial intelligence" performs a widening range of tasks traditionally done by workers, they will need "lifelong learning" to gain new skills and perform new tasks that the machines still can't do.

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/us-workers-need-better-skills-and-more-power/ar-AAO9mEr