Wednesday, October 29, 2008

On Trickle Down Economics....

The Income and Substitution effects of a wage ...Image via WikipediaImage via WikipediaI drove by a "Trabajadores" pick-up station today.  It was about 11am and there were about 20 men looking for work.

Now, I don't know much about the day-laborer industry, but my instincts say that if you aren't picked up by noon (in late October, especially), that it probably doesn't look good for that day's prospects.

I wondered about the people who hire day laborers-contractors, I suppose.

Now, I've spoken with a few contractors recently and all have told me that people are holding off on big purchases. Makes sense, of course.

So, the economic issues are "trickling down" to the unskilled labor market.

Which led me to the inverse question: if bad economic situations "trickle down" to the lowest economic denominator, wouldn't it be the case that a good economic situation would do the same?

Maybe I'm missing something, but if the wealthiest people are making more money, they are making home improvements (in this case), they are hiring contractors, who then hire day laborers, no?

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