• A_A@lemmy.world
    223·
    11 months ago

    “The Union Density Rate” (…)

    How could the average Joe even start to guess what this could ever mean ?

    • Ranvier
      151·
      11 months ago

      Yeah, weird way to describe it. Why not just say percentage of workers in a union?

      • A_A@lemmy.world
        111·
        11 months ago

        Exactly ! (…and thanks for its meaning).
        The funniest part is the title also says : “You Read That Right” …well, no ! …I didn’t since it was unreadable for me :-O

      • FlowVoid@lemmy.worldEnglish
        613·
        11 months ago

        Because “union density” is shorter. Just as “GDP” is shorter than “sum of the income of everyone in a country”.

          • FlowVoid@lemmy.worldEnglish
            44·
            11 months ago

            It’s jargon, like “OOP” and “VRAM”. The people who tend to refer to it will understand.

        • Ranvier
          71·
          11 months ago

          I get the term after reading the article, I’ve just never heard it described that way before. Their own figures say union membership rates in the article which seems much clearer to me and has the same number of words as “union density rate.” Density seems to imply something more geographic or spatial, just seems like an odd way to describe it.

          • FlowVoid@lemmy.worldEnglish
            42·
            11 months ago

            It’s an econ term, it doesn’t have to make sense to non-economists!

            For instance you would think the unemployment rate is the percentage of the population without employment, but no.

        • MagicShel@programming.dev
          2·
          11 months ago

          Just as “GDP” is shorter than “sum of the income of everyone in a country” “who’s winning at capitalism”.

          • FlowVoid@lemmy.worldEnglish
            11·
            11 months ago

            Winning is a matter of perspective. There are plenty of people of who would not want to move to a country with higher GDP.

    • alabasterhotdog@lemmy.ca
      15·
      11 months ago

      If only that average Joe had access to some type of information network on which to look it up, if only. But alas…