@Steven Ruggles

My mom. news.yale.edu/2020/03/10/giv…

@HistDem This is really cool

My new article on the “Pig in the Python” argues that the demand for young workers will grow dramatically over the coming decades, likely leading to rising wages, stronger unions, and lower inequality. 1/28

With three growing children, I hope this is true! It has always been the American Dream.

pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.10… Email me if you face the paywall and want a reprint: ruggles@umn.edu

Fluctuations in the number of workers entering the labor force drove the dramatic swings in wages from the 1940s to the 1980s. But as the pig in the python is finally fully digested, the impact may be even greater than the boom and bust of the twentieth century. /28

We will still have the problem of funding Social Security and Medicare, but it is short term. The Baby Boomers will die off quite rapidly after 2040. /27

If there is no economic calamity, we can expect strong upward pressure on wages, more labor organizing, and reduced inequality. All this assumes, of course, that society has not collapsed by 2040. /26