Labor Day is traditionally a celebration of and for organized labor. Let’s think about organized labor a bit. The demographics of the construction trades look like this:
| Trade | White | Black | Hispanic |
| Plumbers | 63.2% | 9.5% | 20.2% |
| Electricians | 63.6% | 8.5% | 20.5% |
| Carpenters | 62.2% | 7.1% | 23.3% |
| Plasterers | 63.6% | 3.1% | 27.2% |
All of these trades are composed almost entirely of men.
There are probably multiple reasons for the distribution including preference, history, and that in the trades you work your way up. You don’t enter as a master craftsman. You begin by doing menial work, then become an apprentice, a journeyman, and, finally, a master. If you’re not willing or able to do the menial work, you won’t become a master.
One more statistic to reflect on. The majority of union members in the American workforce are now government employees.
OT- Medicare spending is now below the inflation rate. Surprising I think. Still, inflation in Medicare has generally been just a bit over inflation other than that period from 1981-1992 when it shot up. It then dropped going to 97-98 and resumed its more normal pattern. There was pretty minimal inflation from 2008-2016, even a decrease in spending one year, then we saw a significant acceleration 2017-2020. Now both 2021 and 2022 were below inflation.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/248073/distribution-of-medicare-spending-by-service-type/
Steve