But he insisted the total amount available for workers could not be increased this year.
The minimum wage in Bangladesh is currently $38 a month, though officials have set up a panel to discuss raising the amount for garment workers.
If the government paid the exact same amount for its workers' pensions, but put the money into a 401 k), by Biggs calculation the compensation premium for public sector employees would disappear.
In addition, most states have excluded some workers — often teachers, firefighters and police — from the national retirement system and its associated costs, 6.2 percent of payroll for the employer and an equal amount for the worker.
Mr Smith said: "Zero-hours contracts and insecure employment contracts are all that's on offer for a significant amount of workers.
Government data showed that while the amount of workers filing new claims for jobless benefits rose last week, the number of people collecting aid after the initial week experienced its biggest decline since November 2001.
The U.S. needs to increase the amount of workers who are compensated for their skills and hard work with salaries and benefits that give them dignity and allow them to live a middle-class lifestyle.
That amount, worker after worker lamented in interviews for this article, falls woefully short of supporting a family.
Given these beliefs, there is a role for government in ensuring that workers are treated with dignity ("humanize capital"), which we interpret as some reassurance that firms are behaving with some reasonable amount of concern for workers' well-being.
The added $1,000 in his paycheck, along with similar amounts for other workers, could be a huge stimulus to the economy.
