If even half of the people in low-wage leisure, hospitality, and janitorial services moved into other work, the remaining workers in those fields would receive significant pay increases because firms would have to compete more for workers. Low wages in these sectors result from having too many workers; scarcity drives wages up.

causalpending

Speaker

David Autor

Evidence Quote

if we just extracted half of the people who were doing leisure and hospitality and janitorial services from that work the half who remained would get a big pay increase...The problem is there's too many doing it and that's why wages are so low [34:11]

Source

A Threat Bigger than China | MIT Economist David AutorReid Hoffman
Created: 8/11/2026, 6:32:32 AM

My Notes

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