September 23, 2013 at 8:32 pm
#18004
jmherbener
Participant
For real wages to increase across the economy, there must be capital accumulation and greater productivity. But for real wages to rise in one sector of the economy, like restaurants, all that’s necessary is for demand to shift away from other areas into restaurant meals.
Yes, increased real wages of workers from rising productivity in sectors that use machinery can raise the real wages of workers in sectors that don’t use machinery but only by increasing demand for the products they produce as we have both said.
In either case, the key is increasing demand for the products produced by workers in the sector without machinery.