U.S. Labor Markets Aren’t Truly Free
Greater competition for workers would lessen employers’ power over wages.
Intellectual property?
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergKarl Marx didn’t necessarily have 21st-century America in mind when he offered his dire assessment of the future of capitalism, predicting that workers’ pay would get squeezed to the point where the system would break down. Yet lately the U.S. has seemed to be heading in that direction. Companies are getting bigger and more powerful, and wages aren’t growing like they have in the past — a pattern that is fueling popular dissatisfaction even as the economy enters the tenth year of a steady expansion.
Not for the first time, capitalism might need a bit of help. The right response, though, isn’t to oppose vigorous market-based competition. It’s just the opposite.