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A necessary reminder that our work/life structure is flawed (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

We're seeing the race to the bottom that is inevitable under capitalism, unless there's some form of outside intervention.

When it was the norm for a single person in a household to work, wages had to be sufficient to support a household with a single source of income. Men almost always earned significantly more than women; it was assumed that a working woman was either supplementing income, or not taking care of a household, and it was assumed that a working man needed to care for a household. As women started to enter the workforce in greater numbers in the 50s and 60s, you see household incomes start inching higher; as incomes increase, prices increase to meet the available income. Rising prices leads to more women entering the workforce, because a single income is no longer sufficient to meet the requirements for a household. By the time you get to the late 80s, it's nearly impossible to have a family on a single income. Now a two income household can barely afford to even have an apartment, much less have a family.

Now you have people working a day job, and working gig jobs for secondary income, to 'get ahead'. Eventually that will be the new normal, just what is necessary to keep up with prices.

Without putting capitalism on a very short leash, this is only going to get worse.