wage suppression
Holding down compensation
Wage suppression refers to practices or conditions that keep workers' pay artificially low.
This can happen through employer collusion, non-compete agreements, restrictions on union activity, or policies that weaken workers' bargaining power.
Economists debate which factors contribute most: Critics blamed wage suppression on decades of anti-labor legislation.
The term often appears in discussions of stagnant wages despite rising productivity or corporate profits.
- stagnantWithout movement or progress
- exploitationSelfish use of others
- povertySevere lack of resources
- union bustingDisrupting worker organizing efforts
- right to workEmployment without required union membership
tipped workers · outsourcing · gig economy · zero hours · precarious · at-will employment · layoffs · underpaid · sweatshop · overtime · benefits · downsizing · inflation · cost of living · paycheck · paycheck to paycheck · squeeze · struggle
- globalizationglobalization, free trade, global village, global trade, multinationals
- Corporate Powerlobbying, lobbyist, lobbyists, monopoly, oligarchy
- corporate practicesmerger, acquisition, takeover, buyout, layoff
- economic downturnsrecession, deflation, economic collapse, market decline, depression
- market powermonopoly, oligopoly, cartel, market share, pricing power
- union bustingunion busting, strikebreaker, strikebreaking, scabs, scab
wage suppressionwage growth
Increase in compensation
wage increases · wage inflation · pay raises · earnings growth · income growth
wage suppressionlabor shortage
Insufficient workforce supply
worker empowerment · full employment · talent war · fair market value
wage suppressionminimum wage laws
Legislated lowest permissible pay
collective bargaining · union contracts · worker protections
wage, wages, waged, waging, wager, suppress, suppression, suppressed, suppressing