Economix: Explaining the Science of Everyday Life - Research Paper Example

Economix: Explaining the Science of Everyday Life The inflation that had engulfed not only America but the whole world in general for the better part of last year and the year before that has its effects being felt up to date. The effects are especially being felt by workers whose benefits, wages and even salary increases continues to be wiped by the inflation. Despite their benefits increase being recorded at 1.8%, the figure is reduced to around 0.3% after the inflation. This is according to the index for the cost of total compensation which was released by the Labor Department.

This meager wages increases are not even for all the companies. That is, not all the companies have recovered enough from the bouts of inflation to afford to raise the benefits, wages or salaries of their employees and this has its effects on the index for the total compensation as well. Further stripping of the wages and salaries of the workers is made by the increased costs of the healthcare sector. This increase in the most important aspect of a human life next to food consumption has seen the benefits of the workers continue to dwindle even further and this has affected the rate of saving for the common man while others cannot even afford to pay their healthcare benefits.

Job groups that are harder to automate or even outsource are the only ones showing an increase in the total compensation. These occupations include educational professionals such as those in colleges, universities or event he professional schools as well as those in the transport business such as truckers. With less decrease in their compensation packages, they are the only ones who do not feel the “pinch” of the economic inflation and hence even the increases in the healthcare costs do not affect them much.

The same cannot however be said for professors with the increase in online courses which have managed to require very few tutors and hence there is a risk of some of them being displaced. Those however who provide the online tutoring are continually increasing their wealth and growing richer whereas those who teach on one on one basis continue to be on the losing end. This is so because online courses commonly referred to as MOOCs are more convenient to the larger population of Americans and especially those who wish to get educated but are working as well and hence have no time to attend classes which do not have the same convenience that the online courses offer.

What is to be noted and which is an issue of concern is that the online tutors may not be highly qualified and hence the quality of information they provide should be carefully monitored by the Department of Education and other relevant departments. If all these replacement, displacement and compensations continue, then it is evident that in the near future, unemployment will once again hit an all-time high as most people in spite of their skills will be rendered jobless. The one who will remain will cease to afford the basic life necessities as the effects of inflation still remain looming.

The article insists that skills no longer play an important role in determination of hiring, firing or other human resource practices but the economy is the sole determinant and if there is a downward trend, then no one is lucky. Work CitedRampell, Catherine. “Where the Raises Are: Trucking and Academia.” New York Times, May 2, 2013. Retrieved from: http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/02/where-the- raises-are-trucking-and-academia/#more-163172