Assigning Value

VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor

What is the value of your labor? No, really. Put a price tag on it. What do you think, say, an hour of your work is worth?

Is an hour of your labor worth more than an hour of my labor? Less? It’s weird that we have the need of so many services but we pay different amounts to different people based on some arbitrary sense of value.

I mean, is it any more or less important that your running water works or your electricity. Which is more important: that your garbage get picked up or that your internet service keeps running? Is a fast-food worker’s time and labor worth more or less than a barber or a machanic or a newspaper reporter?

I’m not here to argue one way or another. I’m just interested in how we assign value to someone’s job or someone’s worth based on what they do. Sure, there are specialized tasks that require specialized training so maybe those jobs should pay more, but even then, if my toilet is backing up, I don’t need a welder or a surgeon. I need a plumber. Someone who can repair an antique clock might have hands just as skilled as a master chef’s but who is

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going to be more valuable to you? Or to me? Or to society in general.

There’s a lot of debate over “Nobody wants to work anymore.” Is that really the case, or is it really that no one wants to work unless they are being compensated for their time and labor in a way that makes sense?

Shouldn’t anyone who works a full-time job be able to live and enjoy life and pay the bills and provide for his or her family?

Seems to make sense, right? Whose job is it to make sure that’s the case?

The government? The individual? Society? Should we demand that wages be living wages? If not, what’s the message we are sending? Because it seems like we’re not saying some jobs are more important than others but that some lives, some people are more important than others. That seems like the wrong message… for what it’s worth.