On: In Silicon Valley wages are down for everyone but ...

[radiantswirl]

This is a fascinating question. My guess is that all industries have different levels of collusion/wage-fixing. If something as big as THE TECH INDUSTRY can get away with colluding to keep a ceiling on wages, then surely every single other smaller industry can as well.

[_m96l → radiantswirl]

There are many ways to suppress wages besides wage-fixing collusion. About 25% of American workers have non-compete clauses in their work agreements, for instance.

[pmiller2 → _m96l]

True, but non competes are mostly unenforceable in California, so that doesn’t account for the situation in the Bay Area.

[rebelwebmaster → pmiller2]

Only when people decide to fight them. Sadly, many people un-aware of their dubious legality honor them even if they are in fact unenforceable.

[_m96l → pmiller2]

The wage gap exists outside of California, and California also happens to be the only state in which non-competes are strictly voided by the courts.

Outside the Californian bubble, they're a big problem.