The article explains why wages can be slow to change even when there is high unemployment. It shows that workers may choose to ask for higher wages than what would lead to full employment, based on the elasticity of labor demand. When labor demand is inflexible, workers can keep asking for higher wages without fearing losing their jobs. This is different from other theories that only focus on the level of demand. The study also finds that how much effort a job requires and how patient workers are can affect how sticky wages are.