Chip bonuses didn't break the status game

talk
1

So factory workers making 400k are now the new elite instead of doctors. That’s not the system breaking, that’s the system finding a new leverage point. SK swapped which credential matters, but the actual gatekeeping stayed intact.

What changed is the wage gap, not whether you need to be born into the right family or go to the right school to get access to those jobs in the first place.

source: South Korea's AI-driven chip industry boom is reordering…

2

Labor economics isn’t really my lane, but the credential swap thing reminds me of hiring in tech. Ten years ago it was "which university, " now it’s "which bootcamp or which FAANG name on your resume. " Different gate, same wall. I don’t know enough about the Korean chip industry specifically to say if it’s identical, but the pattern feels familiar.