Wage slavery is a real thing in America today. I'm in almost the 95th percentile of income in the US today (although I wasn't always so lucky), and, if I were to somehow lose my job tomorrow, my first priority would be to find a new one ASAP, because I wouldn't be able to pay rent after less than 6 months of unemployment. Most people are not so fortunate. Even the most well-off Americans only have about $164K saved in their retirement accounts [0]. Real wages have been flat for decades [1]. Half of Americans don't have $500 in emergency savings [2].
My employer has nearly 100 employees; I have one employer. The job "market" is designed to create information asymmetry between me and my employer that ensures I'm not getting the best deal I can when negotiating for a job. I'm expected to give a reasonable amount of notice before leaving my job, but no such expectation generally exists on the other side of the table. I can be fired for almost any reason, or no reason. When I was hired, I had to sign an agreement signing away any right I had to ever sue my employer in court for any reason.
Now, even granted that some of these things are not necessarily going to be relevant to my particular situation (e.g. I don't really foresee any need to sue my employer, and I don't think they're going to fire me for no reason at all), what side of the table does the huge majority of the power lie on?
[0]: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/07/how-much-the-average-family-...
[1]: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/09/for-most-wor...
[2]: https://www.creditdonkey.com/average-american-savings-statis...
My employer has nearly 100 employees; I have one employer. The job "market" is designed to create information asymmetry between me and my employer that ensures I'm not getting the best deal I can when negotiating for a job. I'm expected to give a reasonable amount of notice before leaving my job, but no such expectation generally exists on the other side of the table. I can be fired for almost any reason, or no reason. When I was hired, I had to sign an agreement signing away any right I had to ever sue my employer in court for any reason.
Now, even granted that some of these things are not necessarily going to be relevant to my particular situation (e.g. I don't really foresee any need to sue my employer, and I don't think they're going to fire me for no reason at all), what side of the table does the huge majority of the power lie on?
[0]: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/07/how-much-the-average-family-...
[1]: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/09/for-most-wor...
[2]: https://www.creditdonkey.com/average-american-savings-statis...