> If middle class-ish people in the West could hire more people for the equivalent of a couple dollars an hour many would absolutely do so.
They absolutely could if there was any political desire to allow temporary low skilled immigration. In practice this doesn’t seem to be compatible with democracy. Singapore is not a shining light of labour rights or democracy but their government does have to pay attention to public opinion which is why they use less migrant labor than the Gulf monarchies.
Certainly. Once you're talking about a massive underclass with no real agency--whether literal slaves or not--there are all sorts of implications for the structure of that society. See SM Stirling's Draka books for example.
They absolutely could if there was any political desire to allow temporary low skilled immigration. In practice this doesn’t seem to be compatible with democracy. Singapore is not a shining light of labour rights or democracy but their government does have to pay attention to public opinion which is why they use less migrant labor than the Gulf monarchies.