It was the female workforce, you cant just see beyond the nose. Men could have refused the wage, but the idea of two incomes meant the declining wages were acceptable because the wife could work now.
“Companies decided they'd just rather pay people less“
That doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Women flooded occupations they already were predisposed to, which lowered their wages. They also flooded all kinds of office work which reduced those wages too. Then those steel mills & factories you mentioned suddenly had back offices (before computers) filled with women to handle the paperwork in air conditioned offices. Wages gains disappeared in the 70s due to this influx and resulting inflation of all these new salaries. Same old case of too many workers and not enough jobs.
Women don't belong in the workforce. Simple solutions for solved problems.
Great, then we're all stuck with the burden of keeping them fed and housed.
You see the problem?
Forest for the trees, lad.
It was the female workforce, you cant just see beyond the nose. Men could have refused the wage, but the idea of two incomes meant the declining wages were acceptable because the wife could work now.
“Companies decided they'd just rather pay people less“
That doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Women flooded occupations they already were predisposed to, which lowered their wages. They also flooded all kinds of office work which reduced those wages too. Then those steel mills & factories you mentioned suddenly had back offices (before computers) filled with women to handle the paperwork in air conditioned offices. Wages gains disappeared in the 70s due to this influx and resulting inflation of all these new salaries. Same old case of too many workers and not enough jobs.
Would have been super simple to put tariffs on goods to stop factories leaving. I wonder why (((they))) didn't.