Pressuring employers to provide stable jobs with uniform wages is holding workers back. To excel, individuals need a better safety net that encourages more risk-taking.
Something still feels broken in the labor market. There are many jobs and wages are up. But there is also a sense of uncertainty and misery. Service jobs can be grueling, and despite recent growth, people’s wages over the course of their careers aren’t increasing as fast as they once did — especially when you account for inflation. And every day brings more technology that might one day take your job.
The Biden administration and labor activists think the answer to these problems is to empower unions. After all, unions historically protected some workers and their wages, and helped jobs feel stable. Despite the political enthusiasm, though, it's not clear workers actually want to be part of these labor groups. Recent unions drives have failed. At their height, about a quarter of employees were part of a union; now only about 10% are, and it falls further each year.
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Allison Schrager is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal.
This piece originally appeared in Bloomberg Opinion