http://money.cnn.com/2015/07/09/news/economy/americans-work-bush/index.html
Issue:
Americans are working more, and with longer hours, but their incomes remain the same.
Argument:
With more hours of work, Americans should be paid accordingly.
In the past few years, more Americans have been moving from part time to full time jobs.This should mean that their incomes are climbing, but in reality, the average income has not changed much. They work longer, but they aren't gaining money for it.
What the Article has to Say:
Americans have been proven to work longer hours than citizens of other countries. Full time workers in our country take on an average of 47 hours a week, which is close to 1.5 hours more than the average from ten years ago. Americans also do not receive as many vacation days as people in other countries. While Europeans get roughly 28 days off, Americans get about 19, and many do not utilize them in order to stay on top of their work. There used to be many part timers in America who took up two jobs just to maintain a liveable income, but that number dropped as everyone began racing to full time employment, hoping to gain more than just enough money to live off of. Where does the money go if these people work more but don't receive higher wages? The profit has mostly gone towards corporations. Rather than having good wages for their long hours, their hard earned money is being used by businesses.
How does this Affect Us?
While the amount of labor and human capital increases in America, our citizens' wages should increase with them. However, it is completely up to the companies to set their employees' wages because of our economics system. So even though it isn't fair to work longer and receive the same amount of money as if you were working shorter hours, it is perfectly legal. After a while, our human resources will be even higher than they are at this point in time, but how will wages compare? If the wages decrease, then no one will be earning enough money for marginal utility. Then, they will either turn to low cheaper items, or they will just buy less of what they bought before. After that, businesses could suffer, and thus be forced to pay employees even less. Eventually, the trend will throw the whole economy out of balance, and it will just continue to cycle in this way.
