Geneva Passes $25 Minimum Wage

 https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/03/world/geneva-switzerland-minimum-wage-trnd/index.html

Geneva, Switzerland citizens voted to increase their minimum wage to equivalent of $25 USD. This is believed to be the highest set minimum wage in the world. A minimum wage this high is very foreign to Americans who are used to the highest minimum wage being ~$15 and the federal minimum wage being south of $8. One interesting note from the article is that Switzerland does not have a federal minimum wage, but the need for a minimum wage is being taken on by their equivalent of states. 

There is a good deal of speculation that the COVID-19 pandemic helped to push this vote to pass. This makes sense because of the amount of essential workers that needed to continue to work throughout the pandemic and there could be an increased appreciation for these workers.

Do you think that it is feasible that we could see a minimum wage this high in the U.S. in the near future? Do you think that it would result in inflation and/or an increase in unemployment? What other factors should be taken into consideration when making a decision like this? 

Bidenomics

 https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/10/03/bidenomics-the-good-the-bad-and-the-unknown

After the recent presidential debate, many have wondered about Biden’s economic stances and policies. As Trump tried to paint Biden as someone without knowledge in economics, this article highlights many of the policies Biden has advocated for during his campaign. One of the most important aspects of ‘Bidenomics’ is Biden’s rejection of some of the more extreme liberal policies supported by fellow Democrats, such as Medicare For All and publicly-provided, guaranteed jobs. In fact, Biden’s plan for public spending accounts for only a 3% annual increase in GDP. Democrats such as Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders advocated public spending increases on the order of 16-23%. Still, Biden proposes that the spending he is suggesting would be financed by taxes, a higher proportion of which would be paid by large firms and the wealthy. Other parts of the ‘Bidenomics’ initiative include bailouts for small businesses, by offering them grants and loans: a service Biden believes Trump has largely overlooked in the midst of Covid-19. Additionally, by improving relations with China, Biden hopes a better international rapport would allow for an international distribution of a Covid vaccine. Much of Biden’s proposed public spending would be harnessed to improve middle-class living standards, through spending on education, health care, and, most notably, a $15 federal minimum wage.

Despite Trump’s depiction of Biden’s economic policies, Biden is far from a socialist. In fact, many Democrats worry about his policies not being liberal enough. It is understandable, however, that Biden wants to present himself as a moderate, logical alternative to a polarizing figure like Trump. Unfortunately, if elected, this presentation will likely come at the cost of real social and, perhaps, economic progress. Biden has to find a way to balance a careful strategy to get into office, while still seeking to affect change. It is very possible that Biden will wait to assert himself, and his economic policies, until potentially becoming president.

The pandemic depression maybe over, but the pandemic recession has just begun.

 The author talks about how the economic recovery process is a long and slow procedure that holds the economy at risk for the unknown future. He emphasizes the job crisis issue that penetrates deeply into the economy and relates it to the fact that the pandemic squeezed years of change into a few months. The article argues why pandemic job losses are worse compared to past recessions. Similarly, it highlights that big business such as Shell, Disney is laying off thousands of workers, white-collar jobs have dropped by 3.9 worse compared to the 2008 recession and a similar pattern is obvious across other industries. The author suggests that the mechanical effect of shutdowns is causing these high levels of unemployment. He says that a vaccine is not the only cure the economy needs and it will not take us to the pre-pandemic level. As many jobs will no longer exist and massive readjustments will be needed in the labor market that will certainly take a lot of time. Furthermore, it talks about how different sectors like printing services, automobile dealerships, truck transportations, and real estate are adjusting to the new normal. For some industries, it has been easy and profiting and for some, it’s been getting worse.    

Considering the structural readjustment, technological advancements and other factors that affect the labor market and employment will it be more easier or difficult to get a job in the future? Comparing low-income to high-income jobs. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/03/upshot/pandemic-economy-recession.html

Covid-19 Vaccine Deployment Would Give Global Economy a Lift

 The health officials believe that at least one of the vaccines in the later stages of testing will become available and usable. They believe that by the end of this year at least one vaccine would be used or given to a small number of people who are more vulnerable to the virus. With more and more companies working to have the vaccine available, is not a problem, the problem is uneven access to it. IMF also warned about this issue of uneven access to vaccines, as this will hold back the global economic recovery, and indeed slow it down even for those countries with access to successful vaccines. Similarly, the economic boost will also depend on people and their willingness to be vaccinated, as if we look at rich countries, their skepticism about vaccines and their side effects has grown. I believe these concerns will be a problem.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-vaccine-deployment-would-give-global-economy-a-lift-next-year-11601820001

China is demolishing villages and forcing people into bigger ones

For the last 30 years, Chinese farmers have moved to cities to work. Although this has been great for Chinese cities, villages have become hollowed out and are mostly comprised of the elderly and children. Houses are empty and many rural schools have closed forcing kids to walk miles to attend state run boarding schools. To combat this, many Chinese provinces have begun to knock down Chinese villages and build new, bigger ones, to accomadate these residents. However, experiments with what is being called "village consolidation" has been shown to be flawed. Those who order it are often motivated by greed and political advancement, and not for the well-being of its citizens. Local governments have an incentive to destroy rural villages as it would allow them to create more arable land that they can sell greenfield sites near cities to developers without reducing farmland. Although this promotes economic growth, powerless villagers become victims and millions of people have been turfed from their homes. 

What are your thoughts on this? Should the government have a right to do this, or do people have a right to live where they want too?

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/10/03/china-is-demolishing-villages-and-forcing-people-into-bigger-ones

Jobs Report September 2020

 The economic recovery of the U.S. is slowing down and we can tell this from the September numbers published in the jobs report. Nonfarm payrolls rose by a lower than expected 661,000 in September and the unemployment rate was 7.9%, the Labor Department said Friday in the final jobs report before the November election. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been expecting a payrolls gain of 800,000 and the unemployment rate to fall to 8.2% from 8.4% in August. The payrolls miss was due largely to a drop in government hiring as at-home schooling continued and Census jobs fell. I wonder, with these disappointing reports and President Trump testing positive for Coronavirus if stocks will keep heading down. Also, will the number of jobs available keep decreasing if there is another spike? What will Trump do to create more jobs in the next month?

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/10/02/jobs-report-september-2020.html?__twitter_impression=true

New LAYOFF add WORRIES over U.S. Economic Slowdown.

Many companies are planning to fire their employees because of the Pandemic. Disney, Allstate, and two other major airlines are planning to fire about 60,000 workers recently because there is no Federal aid package to be stimulating in the economy. In early spring, about 22 million jobs had people out of jobs, but in May and June, the economy rebounded with stimulus money and really low-interest rates. In another report, it is seen that 787,000 people filled for jobless benefits last week, which is lower than the previous weeks. 

United Airlines and American Airlines gave about 30,000 furloughs after Thursday because Congress could not come with Fresh Aid for the industry. Allstate said that they were going to layoff 3,800 employees so that they could reduce costs. That 3,800 is 8% of the total employees that they had by the end of 2019. Disney said that they were planning the eliminate up to 28,000 jobs as the theme parks in Florida and California. At first, the workers had been on furlough, but after Disney saw the uncertainty of COVID, they decided to remove jobs for the time being. Even though some areas in the entertainment and food industry have opened, hotels are really lagging behind.  

Next year, it is sure for us to get the vaccines. Since there have been many jobs eliminated, do you think when we graduate, it will be easier for us to get jobs because there will be jobs available?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/01/business/economy/layoffs-unemployment-claims.html

Why Did Hundreds of Thousands of Women Drop Out of the Workforce?

 

Job numbers from September show that the recession influenced by COVID'19 has resulted in many women's sidelining, and the number is massive. Even though unemployment is dropping, it is also due to many people leaving the job market anyways. About one million people over twenty dropped out of the job market, and the majority were women. This is partly due to the collapse of industries dominated by women, such as "entertainment." Experts say that the earnings gap between gender is a huge issue and is affecting this situation. Women are being effected by unpaid labor and opting to either move to part-time positions or completely drop out of the labor force. The opening of schools has also effected their participation as they contemplate taking care of children. The majority of these individuals are not the highest-earning person in the family, especially their partners, and hence decide to sacrifice earnings. The better-earning partner goes back to work, and data suggests this is the majority of the time men. As the income gap increases between spouses, the person with less income usually has a smaller labor supply. This will cause problems when women try to re-enter the labor force and effect their genders standing in the labor force. After recessions, people tend to have less income, and the wage gap increases. Eventually, whatever the reason that drove women out of the workforce will affect them badly as returning will be much harder and takes a lot of time. The question is, how much of the slowly gained ground has been lost, and what does this mean for women's position in the workforce?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/03/us/jobs-women-dropping-out-workforce-wage-gap-gender.html?searchResultPosition=5