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alyeska2today at 6:01 AM2 repliesview on HN

You seem to be confused about the point people are making. The point is that from about 1945 until around 2000 in the USA there really wasn't such a thing as "a job that doesn't pay enough to live on".

People owned houses and cars by working at grocery stores. A single income from any white collar job supported a stay-at-home spouse. Teenagers bought cars by working part time. College kids paid their tuition and living expenses for the full year by working summers.

That today's below-poverty-line job still leaves someone better off than being completely destitute is beside the point.


Replies

Aurornistoday at 6:03 AM

I understand that argument, but what does it have to do with the unemployment rate?

You seem to be confused about the point I'm making, which is that low-paying jobs drive people to take on more employment, not less.

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boxedtoday at 6:10 AM

You're just cherry-picking though. Things were massively different in 1945 in tons of ways. For example Jim Crow was still active for one. Food prices were MASSIVELY higher for another.