Thread: Wage Gouging -??

From BusinessReform this morning: (emphasis is mine-grandma)


Home » Blogs » Wage Gouging’ In New Orleans

WAGE GOUGING’ IN NEW ORLEANS (17 hours ago)

As New Orleans struggles to rebuild after Katrina, businesses have experienced a shortage of workers needed for most every job, regardless of skill level. As a result, job seekers are demanding – and getting – much higher wages. For example, a Burger King franchise is offering a $6,000 starting bonus for all workers who agree to work a year. Other restaurants have doubled wages, but are unable to attract the needed workers.

The cause for the labor shortage is that many folks have left town since much of the city’s housing and infrastructure is destroyed or damaged. They have no place to live, no functioning schools for their children, and a city not able to perform many basic services. The result is an acute shortage of labor, leading to an increase in wages across the board, which often leads to salaries that are double of what was paid before the storm came.

Workers doing even the most fundamental of tasks are getting as much as $30.00 an hour from some desperate contractors, proving that in reality, a free market works for workers. When skills are in demand, wages increase for workers. While some politicians posture about price gouging as business people raise prices in the post hurricane environment, I have heard no one decry the “wage gouging� going on as workers demand and receive higher wages.

Should workers be paid less? Is this fair to employers? Would you encourage someone to migrate to New Orleans looking for work?
Posted by Steve Marr on November, 15th 2005 16:27 EST | View Profile