Comments by "looseycanon" (@looseycanon) on "The Economist Who (Wrongly) Thought Gay People Made Cities Richer" video.

  1. Advantages of cities are nice, but not infinite. Covid taught us, that we can, even with modest internet speed, learn equally well in the sticks as in cities. Same can be the case for work, if legislation get's put in place, that would empower the employee to chose, where he'll be working from, as long as it doesn't change his/her tax residency. The problem here is, that employers want employees back in the office, because employee with autonomy is dangerous one to them. With more and more digitalization coming, fewer and fewer jobs will need be done in person on site, which could erode this advantage of the city, which is even further compounded by increasing city hostility to cars, which are the bridges between relatively cheaper housing of the countryside and better wages of cities for in person jobs. I call into question two things. Willingness of employers to pay and actually compeet for employees and housing wage to cost of living ratio. I live in Czech Republic and here is something, that I have observed. Companies have been crying crocodile tears for years now, how low unemployment we have and that we need more immigration. While we certainly do need more incoming people given our birth rate, even before the pandemic, we've had prices for a lot of goods and services comparable with Germany and Austria, yet our minimal wage is among the lowest in the EU and very few companies offer actually livable wages (I have two cats, don't own a car, game on rather old PC and can't pay rent alone. Have to live with my parents, while earning nearly median salary and having close to no expenses) and I haven't seen much in terms of wage growth even before covid, when economists were warning of overheated markets (both labor and real estate). however, if that were the case, I'd expect double digit growths in salaries year on year without corresponding rise in consumer prices and more importantly, fewer and fewer jobs starting at minimum wage. That has failed to materialize. There is an interview (sadly only in Czech) here on youtube on Český Rozhlas plus youtube channel, which points to a fact, that even through five years of sustained meteoric growth of our GDP, emplooyers remained complaicant with wages and benefits (Analytik: Firmy nabízejí minimální mzdu a diví se nezájmu), particularly pointing out, how many companies offered minimum wage as starting jobs even for qualified positions like accountants. Really the only outliers there were IT jobs and those, professions, which were both in short supply and can be spun up into a business of their own relatively easily (especially electricians). Meanwhile, property and housing prices have been soaring, out growing wages in significatn measure. Really, the video has wibes of looking only at nominal data. I'd want to see comparison, where measurement unit wouldn't be a Dollar value, but rather number of time unites spent to secure equivalent goods and services in the city and in the countryside. I think, that assumption, that city is better, would get overturned.
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