Pro-con: Is the situation improving for U.S. workers? No

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.kansascity.com/273/story/266518.html

Pro-con: Is the situation improving for U.S. workers? No
By Mark Weisbrot
Center for Economic and Policy Research

WASHINGTON | Another Labor Day has passed, and American workers are still waiting for something to celebrate. How about a wage increase?

Well, the average real wage today is just where it was nearly five years ago, in December 2002, despite the fact that our economy and productivity have been growing the whole time.

In fact, wages are barely above where they were more than three decades ago: from 1973 to 2006, the average wage, adjusted for inflation, grew by a grand total of one-half percent.

What kind of economy grows for decades on end but doesn’t allow most of the population to share in the gains from that growth?

Well, ours — but it is rather unusual in the world. It comes with a number of other dubious distinctions that make America unique among high-income countries:

It’s the only one that doesn’t guarantee health care for its citizens. It’s the only one with no paid holidays or vacations required by law. It has the lowest life expectancy, the worst inequality, the highest poverty rate. And the highest incarceration rate in the whole world — rich and poor countries included.

FULL story at link.