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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPaychecks Lag as Profits Soar, and Prices Erode Wage Gains
By Patricia Cohen July 13, 2018
Corporate profits have rarely swept up a bigger share of the nations wealth, and workers have rarely shared a smaller one.
The lopsided split is especially pronounced given how low the official unemployment rate has sunk. Throughout the recession and much of its aftermath, when many Americans were grateful to receive a paycheck instead of a pink slip, jobs and raises were in short supply. Now, complaints of labor shortages are as common as tweets. For the first time in a long while, workers have some leverage to push for more.
Yet many are far from making up all the lost ground. Hourly earnings have moved forward at a crawl, with higher prices giving workers less buying power than they had last summer. Last-minute scheduling, no-poaching and noncompete clauses, and the use of independent contractors are popular tactics that put workers at a disadvantage. Threats to move operations overseas, where labor is cheaper, continue to loom.
Sure, you can get a job slinging hamburgers somewhere or working in a warehouse, said Christina Jones, 53, of Mobile, Ala. Ms. Jones spent eight months searching for a job with living wages and benefits, after being laid off from a paper company where she had worked for nearly 13 years. Dozens of interviews later, she landed work last month at a concrete crushing company as an accounts payable clerk for $14 an hour two-thirds her previous salary.
You hear, Oh, the unemployment rate is as low as its ever been, Ms. Jones said, but it was discouraging.
The lopsided split is especially pronounced given how low the official unemployment rate has sunk. Throughout the recession and much of its aftermath, when many Americans were grateful to receive a paycheck instead of a pink slip, jobs and raises were in short supply. Now, complaints of labor shortages are as common as tweets. For the first time in a long while, workers have some leverage to push for more.
Yet many are far from making up all the lost ground. Hourly earnings have moved forward at a crawl, with higher prices giving workers less buying power than they had last summer. Last-minute scheduling, no-poaching and noncompete clauses, and the use of independent contractors are popular tactics that put workers at a disadvantage. Threats to move operations overseas, where labor is cheaper, continue to loom.
Sure, you can get a job slinging hamburgers somewhere or working in a warehouse, said Christina Jones, 53, of Mobile, Ala. Ms. Jones spent eight months searching for a job with living wages and benefits, after being laid off from a paper company where she had worked for nearly 13 years. Dozens of interviews later, she landed work last month at a concrete crushing company as an accounts payable clerk for $14 an hour two-thirds her previous salary.
You hear, Oh, the unemployment rate is as low as its ever been, Ms. Jones said, but it was discouraging.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/13/business/economy/wages-workers-profits.html
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Paychecks Lag as Profits Soar, and Prices Erode Wage Gains (Original Post)
workinclasszero
Jul 2018
OP
Wounded Bear
(58,440 posts)1. K & R...for visibility...
If anybody is surprised, they haven't been paying attention.
Iliyah
(25,111 posts)2. I've been seeing this for some time but alas our
astute media is awaking up?
workinclasszero
(28,270 posts)3. Lots of jobs that won't cover the cost of living
And Dump's tariffs making everything more expensive on top of it.
F**king genius, thanks Trump!
Progressive dog
(6,862 posts)4. The CPI is up 2.9 percent in the year ending in Jume
The extra inflation that is coming from the tax cuts and the new sales taxes (tariffs) are on the way.
Those extra profits are probably being invested overseas. It is discouraging.
onethatcares
(16,133 posts)5. anecdoatal, but
I pay attention to the cost of beer and two weeks ago a 24 pack of budweiser in aluminum cans was 16.95 at the local walmart. This week the 24 pack of budweiser is 22.95. I was thinking the aluminum tariffs really hit fast.
This one is going to hurt the beer drinking class hard.
workinclasszero
(28,270 posts)6. Wow
Screw that I'd go back to glass bottles then if I was still drinking.