Current Affairs Rail strikes

[tsubaki]

None of these analyses seem to assess whether monetary policy intervened to prevent the spiral, which resulted in a recession, which is the ultimate point made in my quote. I seem to remember recessions in the 70s and 80s in direct response to periods of high inflation/wage rises.

It's perhaps also worth remembering that the potential impact of a wage-price spiral is much greater in industries where the cost of labour is a larger part of the cost of production. Arguably the most prominent of these is healthcare, which is obviously under intense cost pressures already and will become even more so as the demographic situation unfolds.

Which is why the solution the government must look at is, for many sectors (especially healthcare), finding ways to help the workforce that does not involve massive pay rises.

 

[FrenchDarrenBent]

None of these analyses seem to assess whether monetary policy intervened to prevent the spiral, which resulted in a recession, which is the ultimate point made in my quote. I seem to remember recessions in the 70s and 80s in direct response to periods of high inflation/wage rises.

It's perhaps also worth remembering that the potential impact of a wage-price spiral is much greater in industries where the cost of labour is a larger part of the cost of production. Arguably the most prominent of these is healthcare, which is obviously under intense cost pressures already and will become even more so as the demographic situation unfolds.

The fact is that the wage price spiral is practically a historical mirage. At most a side-effect of inflation, not a driver.
The fact that the national banks of most of the western countries increased the interest rates in the 80s had nothing to do with wanting to prevent this phenomenon (which was non-factor at the time because of the large pool of unemployed people preventing a real nationwide rise), it was to counter inflation. If this spiral would become a factor if they didn't intervene is purely speculation.
Inflation is just the increase in the quantity of money. Nothing more, nothing less. You solve it with higher interest rates.

It's not just me saying it.

Forget the mythical wage-price spiral and get to grips with reality

Forty-year high inflation in rich economies has peaked. Restrictive monetary policy, winter recessions and steadily creeping unemployment all beckon. That makes

www.thetimes.co.uk

Even if a wage price spiral was a risk, it wouldn't be in the forseeable future. Real wages have fallen 10%, in order to trigger real higher costs you'd have to raise wages above that level.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Which is why the solution the government must look at is, for many sectors (especially healthcare), finding ways to help the workforce that does not involve massive pay rises.

That's pretty much what the paper I shared was arguing (albeit through the lens of remote working, which isn't an option for many of those striking).

 

[Bruce Wayne]

The fact is that the wage price spiral is practically a historical mirage. At most a side-effect of inflation, not a driver.
The fact that the national banks of most of the western countries increased the interest rates in the 80s had nothing to do with wanting to prevent this phenomenon (which was non-factor at the time because of the large pool of unemployed people preventing a real nationwide rise), it was to counter inflation. If this spiral would become a factor if they didn't intervene is purely speculation.
Inflation is just the increase in the quantity of money. Nothing more, nothing less. You solve it with higher interest rates.

It's not just me saying it.

Forget the mythical wage-price spiral and get to grips with reality

Forty-year high inflation in rich economies has peaked. Restrictive monetary policy, winter recessions and steadily creeping unemployment all beckon. That makes

www.thetimes.co.uk

Even if a wage price spiral was a risk, it wouldn't be in the forseeable future. Real wages have fallen 10%, in order to trigger real higher costs you'd have to raise wages above that level.

I'm not sure anyone is saying that it drives inflation. The cause of this has largely been the huge printing of money over the last decade and the supply-side restrictions both of labour and goods over the past year. As the article you dismissed clearly said that monetary policy designed to quell wage-price inflation can very easily result in a recession, it seems sensible to me to ask whether that is precisely what happened on those occasions when wage-price spirals didn't take hold. What was it that stopped them doing so?

 

[Jebus_lives]

What an absolute shambles that is.

 

[ArtetaMoney]

What an absolute shambles that is.

Ridiculous isn’t it, baffled as to why they let the interview go on for so long.

 

[Jebus_lives]

Ridiculous isn’t it, baffled as to why they let the interview go on for so long.

Like a playground argument

 

[NilSatisOptimum]

Think we can put British exceptionalism well and truly to bed...

Nurse burnt out after year working in NHS now makes more money serving ice cream

Mailu Turner, who qualified as a mental health nurse in September 2021, has told how she quit her job in the NHS due to stress from the conditions and now earns more working in an ice cream parlour

www.mirror.co.uk

 

[peteblue]

Strange, I always thought nursing was a calling……

 

[Rita_Poon]

Maybe of interest

How Businesses Should (and Shouldn’t) Respond to Union Organizing

In 2022, workers in the United States voted to form more unions than they have in nearly 20 years, and labor has recently organized at companies in almost every industry. But most business leaders have responded in an outdated way, by embracing union busting at all costs. This ignores business...

hbr.org

Employ more homeless?

 

[Rita_Poon]

Someone 'call' bertie something, something apt...

 

[Brennan]

Strange, I always thought nursing was a calling……

Did you not read the part where she’s waiting to be able to register as a nurse in Australia then ?

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Did you not read the part where she’s waiting to be able to register as a nurse in Australia then ?

It's not good that people are growing disaffected with the role quite so quickly. The wife has had a few students who have grown similarly disinclined to go into the profession after practical exposure during placements. It's almost like placing people into a chaotic environment puts them off.

 

[Brennan]

It's not good that people are growing disaffected with the role quite so quickly. The wife has had a few students who have grown similarly disinclined to go into the profession after practical exposure during placements. It's almost like placing people into a chaotic environment puts them off.

100% agree.

If my wife wasn’t in a clinic environment now there is no chance she’d still be working in the NHS. The shifts and pressure had a really negative impact on her mental health.

But then you get plenty of comments like Pete’s when you read comment sections on social media. It’s a real shame.

 

[peteblue]

100% agree.

If my wife wasn’t in a clinic environment now there is no chance she’d still be working in the NHS. The shifts and pressure had a really negative impact on her mental health.

But then you get plenty of comments like Pete’s when you read comment sections on social media. It’s a real shame.

Don’t misinterpret my comment. I am fully supportive of all medical staff but everyone understands the chaos currently happening with the NHS and should not be surprised when they find it chaotic. This dispute should not be between nurses/doctors and the government, it should be between the government and the NHS management who have mismanaged the NHS for years…..