>3. In the western world companies over past fifty years got a free boost as women joined the labour force, and essentially companies were paying one guy the cost of a household now they pay two people the cost of household getting twice the workers for same price.
If demand for work is fixed, then doubling the supply of work (male + female from the same household) would in principle decrease wages (not necessarily by half). However, the supply need not be fixed. This is what I like to call the "musical chairs theory of employment". Let's say there are 2x more working age people in 2024 than in 1954, does it mean each person earns less? When immigrants come to a country, does it mean that each immigrant causes a native to become unemployed?
The evidence tells us that's not true and that there are other changes in the economy that also increase the demand for work. Check the literature of immigration effects (even major short term shocks) on unemployment and wages to see a pretty clear picture. I'm not aware of a study of what more female employment has done (my guess is that it's much more difficult to study, because it's a phenomenon that has slowly happened over decades. As an aside, this has happened in plenty of places around the world, no need to restrict yourself to the western world. Plenty of other places are relevant)
If demand for work is fixed, then doubling the supply of work (male + female from the same household) would in principle decrease wages (not necessarily by half). However, the supply need not be fixed. This is what I like to call the "musical chairs theory of employment". Let's say there are 2x more working age people in 2024 than in 1954, does it mean each person earns less? When immigrants come to a country, does it mean that each immigrant causes a native to become unemployed?
The evidence tells us that's not true and that there are other changes in the economy that also increase the demand for work. Check the literature of immigration effects (even major short term shocks) on unemployment and wages to see a pretty clear picture. I'm not aware of a study of what more female employment has done (my guess is that it's much more difficult to study, because it's a phenomenon that has slowly happened over decades. As an aside, this has happened in plenty of places around the world, no need to restrict yourself to the western world. Plenty of other places are relevant)