Are jobs really getting worse?

[Buffaloski Boris]

To me is seems like problem isn't that people have the option of payday loans, it is that they don't have other better options. Seems like the solution would be work on getting people for financial buffer/resiliency rather than to take away one of their bad options so they'll be forced into whatever the next-least-bad option is (jail/even more expensive overdraft fees/etc).

Preying on the poor is profitable. Payday lenders are a vile lot.  Still, I’m more a fan of driving them out of business the old fashioned way, by offering a better alternative. There are some interesting fintech innovations such as personal loans via cell phone app that could prove interesting. And of course banks and credit unions could make some real efforts to bring the unbanked into the fold.

[GodlessCommie]

Preying on the poor is profitable. Payday lenders are a vile lot.  Still, I’m more a fan of driving them out of business the old fashioned way, by offering a better alternative. There are some interesting fintech innovations such as personal loans via cell phone app that could prove interesting. And of course banks and credit unions could make some real efforts to bring the unbanked into the fold.

State-chartered bank (or credit union) sounds like an option. It can charge rates very close to market, but issue a refund at the end of a year based on loan performance.

[Laserjet3051]

Back to the OP:

It seems that the agreggate data indicate that jobs are getting worse; my boots on the ground observations concur. That said, at the micro-level, I just landed a spectacular job, the best one of my career. So GREAT jobs do exist, but their waning abundance means competition for such opportunities are becoming fierce.

[partdopy]

Slide 14 is a pretty good representation of what they're trying to quantify. Over a 29 year observational period, food service employment increase by 65% while manufacturing employment fell by 30%. Manufacturing work pays higher wages. Probably has higher union participation and better benefits too.

This is due to the ability to manufacture things in China and other countries, where higher wages, better benefits and union representation aren't necessary.  Want to stop that?  Penalize manufacturing in China/elsewhere, or lower costs here.

You can't outsource food service.

The demand and pay for skilled workers that can't be outsourced is as good as it's ever been.

[EscapedApe]

In the past, minimum wage hikes have always resulted in increases in both unemployment and income inequality. And there's a specific reason for this.

Citation?

"...a 10% increase in the minimum wage causes a decline of 1–2% in employment among teenagers and a decline of 1.5–2% in employment for young adults, similar to the ranges suggested by earlier time-series studies."
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/001979399204600105

"...the putty‐clay model matches the small estimated short‐run disemployment effect of the minimum wage found in other studies, but produces a larger long‐run disemployment effect."
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/iere.12262

"...the evidence is most consistent with disemployment effects of minimum wages for younger, less-skilled workers."
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/0019-8676.00199?referrer_access_token=h6XVyCOBwQbxYxfCp80vqota6bR2k8jH0KrdpFOxC64hAAIG9m0kWaGYSAY6YUBvBdjQxkMsM3Qkm4BNlkjNP2MXjhn-VySuTjLYrF-xsnHVnuHOsVJhhzGK79u0mOV1Zqz4yC7rvtH65S-W0NfdEmpH3tQnt_UIidqyswxkh58%3D

"Our point estimates suggest that a one dollar increase in the minimum wage leads to a 14 percent increase in the likelihood of exit for a 3.5-star restaurant (which is the median rating on Yelp), but has no discernible impact for a 5-star restaurant (on a 1 to 5 star scale). Looking at data from delivery orders, we find that lower rated restaurants also increase prices in response to minimum wage increases."
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2951110#maincontent

Thomas Sowell has also talked (and cited) at length analyses of present and past job markets of different countries, and there was a consistent pattern of countries with higher minimum wages also having higher unemployment among unskilled workers (usually young). This is a barrier to their advancement into higher paying jobs.

[Davnasty]

In the past, minimum wage hikes have always resulted in increases in both unemployment and income inequality. And there's a specific reason for this.

Citation?

"...a 10% increase in the minimum wage causes a decline of 1–2% in employment among teenagers and a decline of 1.5–2% in employment for young adults, similar to the ranges suggested by earlier time-series studies."
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/001979399204600105

"...the putty‐clay model matches the small estimated short‐run disemployment effect of the minimum wage found in other studies, but produces a larger long‐run disemployment effect."
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/iere.12262

"...the evidence is most consistent with disemployment effects of minimum wages for younger, less-skilled workers."
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/0019-8676.00199?referrer_access_token=h6XVyCOBwQbxYxfCp80vqota6bR2k8jH0KrdpFOxC64hAAIG9m0kWaGYSAY6YUBvBdjQxkMsM3Qkm4BNlkjNP2MXjhn-VySuTjLYrF-xsnHVnuHOsVJhhzGK79u0mOV1Zqz4yC7rvtH65S-W0NfdEmpH3tQnt_UIidqyswxkh58%3D

"Our point estimates suggest that a one dollar increase in the minimum wage leads to a 14 percent increase in the likelihood of exit for a 3.5-star restaurant (which is the median rating on Yelp), but has no discernible impact for a 5-star restaurant (on a 1 to 5 star scale). Looking at data from delivery orders, we find that lower rated restaurants also increase prices in response to minimum wage increases."
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2951110#maincontent

Thomas Sowell has also talked (and cited) at length analyses of present and past job markets of different countries, and there was a consistent pattern of countries with higher minimum wages also having higher unemployment among unskilled workers (usually young). This is a barrier to their advancement into higher paying jobs.

I should have been more specific here, but what I was getting at was your use of the word "always". Just a few posts prior FIPurpose listed studies which refute your claim and as far as I can tell are reputable and accurate.

To be clear, I've more or less been arguing the same point you're trying to make and I do not support a significant minimum wage increase as many Democrats are arguing for at the moment. A smaller increase may have merit, but I'm not entirely convinced one way or the other.