A labor market favorable to workers triggers organizing and higher wages.

Evidence

When technocrats use terms like “healthy” and “appropriate” to describe the economy, they focus on capital accumulation rather than the needs of people and their living conditions. A labor market that is even slightly favorable to employees encourages workers to push to reduce the rate of exploitation. This happened in the United States during the post-pandemic recovery: the increased bargaining power of workers led to stronger organizations, new unionizations, and a surge in strikes that ultimately increased wages. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 264

Categorization

• XREF: Shows the feedback flipped: tight labor market empowers workers — the counterfactual that full employment makes possible. — connects to: Unemployment functions as the pivot keeping labor markets within exploitative limits of capital dominance — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 256; Workers’ collective action can suspend the supposed iron laws of supply and demand — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 506; Depoliticized labor markets discipline workers through the threat of unemployment and lower wages — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 796 (+2 more)