There is a shortage of most real labor in Japan, yet the people in those jobs make dogshit salaries. I don’t get it… you’d think with high demand and low supply you’d be able to charge a premium? My guess is consumer expectations drive a lot of the pricing and a person can only afford what they can afford before reconsidering if they need the thing.
Replies (6)
Sounds like it’s not a free market
Same happens to builders in the UK.
The solution to high prices, is high prices. It’s why oil has never reached $200 per barrel.
Fiat price distortion in a communist state does things like that. The expectation is that the government pays (through debt). So people wait until the government provides its bad service.
What kind of labor shortage? White collar or blue collar? I imagine most of the employment in Japan has very protectionist policies that make changes in labor market pricing difficult. Also the deflationary period for the last couple of decades really distorts the system.
As you implied, very little of what we spend money on are essential needs. If the price is too high, we just pass on that good or service. It’s only low cost labor that’s in demand. High cost labor has a different demand curve.
If your SOV is dog shit, you can’t expect your rose gardener to do much whistling.
