In which we find out that the TUC doesn't do economics

There are times when the Trades Union Congress spiffs up a lovely report to claim that higher wages will make the world a richer place. There are also times when the TUC just demands higher wages. Even when it is quite obvious that such a demand will not make the world a richer place. At which point we should really stop worrying about whatever economics the TUC uses to spiff up their reports and simply peg them for what they are, a special interest group not interested in what is good for us all in general:

The head of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has denounced a possible freezing of the national living wage as “totally wrong”, as the Treasury reportedly considers backtracking on a planned pay rise for the lowest paid.

We’ve just had a serious recession. Wages have fallen, unemployment is rising. This might not be the time for a pay rise:

Frances O’Grady, the general secretary of the TUC, said: “Many key workers who have got us through this crisis – including care workers and supermarket staff – are on the minimum wage. It would be totally wrong to freeze their pay.

“The government must not renege upon its commitment to raise the minimum wage. Millions of low-paid workers are struggling to make ends meet. That’s not right during a pandemic – or at any time.”

One of the grand mistakes that Roosevelt made during the Depression was his insistence upon raising wages in the teeth of it. It’s one of the reasons that the disaster over there lasted a decade while the one here was over within 18 months.

The general thinking is that it is the low end of the service sector which is getting it in the neck in this post-covid employment market. Increasing the cost of employing people in such jobs just as we’re worrying about the disappearance of a million or two of those jobs just ain’t the way to do it. Well, not unless we want to wait for a war, as FDR had to, to overcome that mistake.