Free To Choose: A Personal Statement (1980)

Who Protects the Worker?

Volume 8 - Who Protects the Worker?

Abstract:
Naturally, workers are concerned about wages, fringe benefits, and job security. Many people feel vulnerable, at the mercy of the "system." One response has been the development of a variety of unions, professional organizations, and other groups dedicated to looking after the interests of members. There is evidence that working people have made significant progress over the past two centuries. In the United States, each succeeding generation has enjoyed a higher standard of living than the previous generations. What accounts for this improvement -- unions? The government? Or is there an alternative explanation? Unions claim to have raised wages of all workers - members and nonmembers - through their collective bargaining efforts. But analyses reveal that whereas some unions have raised wage levels of their own members, these increases have come at the expense of nonunion workers. Unions have also suggested that their concerns center on the lowest paid workers in our society. But Dr. Friedman points out that the most successful unions are those whose members are highly skilled workers. The airline pilots union is a notable example. Union efforts to secure wage increases for unskilled laborers have not been notably successful. Some have argued that workers have gained great benefits from actions of the government. But many governmental actions have had negative effects. Rules and regulations have increased employers' costs and reduced demand for workers. In particular, minimum wage laws have reduced the amount of unskilled labor employed. Milton Friedman points out that one unfortunate, and quite unintended, consequence of minimum wage legislation has been to worsen the employment position of young blacks, including many unskilled laborers whom employers cannot afford to train at high minimum wage rates. In the final analysis, the best protection for the worker is neither unions nor government. Rather, it is the existence of other employers willing to compete for services of skilled individuals.

Milton Friedman: Free To Choose

Free To Choose® is the ground-breaking PBS television series featuring Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize-winning economist. These programs, filmed on location around the world, have helped millions of people understand the close relationship between the ideas of human freedom and economic freedom. The interaction between those ideas has created in the U.S. the richest and freest society the world has ever known. Milton Friedman sees this success threatened by the tendency in the last few decades to assume that government intervention is the answer to all problems. In these programs, which first aired on January 11, 1980, Dr. Friedman focuses on basic principles. How do markets work? Why has socialism failed? Can government help economic development? The 1980 version consists of 10 one-hour programs.



Producer and links to original media: Free to Choose Media, http://www.freetochoosemedia.org/freetochoose/media_ftc1980....