As US companies fight to attract workers in a tight labor market, Amazon has emerged as the de facto wage-and-benefit setter, causing ripples across the economy
In local markets throughout America, the e-commerce giant's facilities have an impact on inflation, job markets and labor standards Tweets: @sarthakgh , @cfishman , @cfishman , @cfishman , @cfishman , @cfishman , @cfishman , @cfishman , @cfishman , @conorsen , @kenjeyaretnam , @sarthakgh , @dseetharaman , @jc_econ , @jimpethokoukis , @bradnews , @mvolpe , @jimpethokoukis , and @jasonrdean Tweets: Sar Haribhakti / @sarthakgh : Jeff Bezos has done more to increase minimum wages and expand economy opportunity across the country than the likes of AOC and Bernie ever have and ever will in their entire political careers https://www.wsj.com/... @cfishman : 10/ The question WSJ editorial writers & CNBC commentators always ask, with sober concern: Can we *afford* to pay American workers $20 an hour to staff the drive through & put our stuff in Amazon boxes? Not only can we. As we've discovered, we can't afford not to. @cfishman : 5/ I wrote ‘The Wal-Mart Effect,’ about the wide impact of Walmart on every corner of the U.S. economy. At that time, I calculated that WMT could raise the price of every item it sold by 1¢ — one penny — and dramatically change its own profitability, without hurting shoppers. @cfishman : 4/ You can't both criticize companies like Amazon & Walmart for paying poorly, then criticize them for paying well. But that's what will happen. This WSJ analysis—1st of its kind I've seen—is big news & good news. Happy to see a big employer set a *high* workplace standard. @cfishman : 3/ Here's the thing: If Amazon (#2 largest employer in country) raises wages, other business, including small business, will squawk that they can't compete with the behemoth. But if Amazon corrodes wages — do those employers pay up above AMZN? Not typically. Pay down, in fact. @cfishman : 7/ American frontline workers should make $16 to $20 an hour. $16 an hour is $33,000 a year. That's basic wages. You know what other huge American company dramatically raised wages for workers? Ford, under Henry Ford. In 1914, he doubled his factory workers' wages. @cfishman : 2/ Amazon has had a reputation for decades as a challenging place to work — reasonable, if not great, wages. But a relentless work pace, monitored, logged, and then judged employee by employee. But this WSJ analysis says ‘The Amazon Effect’ is turning positive. @cfishman : Dramatic shift in Amazon's influence: The company is raising wages for workers across U.S. To compete, to hang to talent, other companies — family-owned, but also giants — are also raising wages. Important new insight in this WSJ story. (Free below.) https://www.wsj.com/... @cfishman : 11/ If we can't afford to pay our fellow Americans who take care of us every day a reasonable wage, we've organized our economy, and our country, in a completely unsustainable way. And also — by the by — in a morally unsustainable way. Read: https://www.wsj.com/... Conor Sen / @conorsen : I'm curious if Amazon really finds that churning through lots of workers at a starting wage of $18-21/hr is really a better approach than making the jobs a little more tolerable/less productive at a slightly lower wage: https://www.wsj.com/... https://twitter.com/... Kenneth Jeyaretnam / @kenjeyaretnam : 1/ Interesting that Amazon is depleting the pool of unskilled labour and pushing up wage rates in the US. In Singapore the pool of unskilled labour is perpetually replenished by fresh infusions of very cheap labour from neighbouring countries https://www.wsj.com/... Sar Haribhakti / @sarthakgh : Jeff Bezos has done to increase minimum wages and expand economy opportunity across the country than the likes of AOC and Bernie ever have and ever will in their entire political careers https://www.wsj.com/... Deepa Seetharaman / @dseetharaman : Amazon has faced lawsuits, union challenges & gov't scrutiny over its treatment of workers. But it pays more so local rivals are struggling to keep pace. “Everyone is comparing job offers, & they always have Amazon as a benchmark.” https://www.wsj.com/... by @SebasAHerrera Dr. Julia Coronado / @jc_econ : A high pressure recovery turns monopsonists into allies of labor https://www.wsj.com/... James Pethokoukis / @jimpethokoukis : “Amazon's wage increases pass through to workers outside the company, researchers have found ... In September, Amazon announced that its starting wage now averages $18.32 an hour, nearly triple the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.” https://twitter.com/... Bradley Olson / @bradnews : Amazon has emerged as a de-facto wage-and-benefits setter for low-skilled workers across America, with ripple effects on wages/inflation/labor standards. We've come to understand “The Amazon effect” on retail, but this story outlines its effect on work https://www.wsj.com/... Mike Volpe / @mvolpe : When Amazon opens a warehouse, it forces other local employees to increase wages: https://www.wsj.com/... James Pethokoukis / @jimpethokoukis : “To fight off Amazon, competitors have tried to offer lighter workloads, more flexible schedules, bonus pay and other perks. But Amazon is rolling out new plans to compete in those areas as well.” https://www.wsj.com/... Jason Dean / @jasonrdean : ‘Everyone is comparing job offers, and they always have Amazon as a benchmark’ @SebasAHerrera with a smart story showing how the ‘Amazon effect’ has hit the labor market, causing shockwaves for employers across the US and fueling inflation https://www.wsj.com/... @WSJ