US recovery 'not helping workers'
BBC News
September 5, 2004

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3629828.stm

Lower paid workers have seen their wages shrink, EPI says
Many working families still feel no benefit from the US economic recovery, the Economic Policy Institute says.
While business is improving, average wages have fallen, job satisfaction has declined and the rich-poor gap widened, says a report by the US think tank.

And in terms of recouping jobs since the start of the recession, the US is in a worse position "than any business cycle since the 1930s", it added.

The study is set to harden criticism of President Bush ahead of the elections.

Critics have rounded on Mr Bush for presiding over large-scale job losses since taking office in 2000.

'Jobs growth stalled'

But the EPI State Of Working America 2004/05 report says that after almost three years of recovery, the labour market is still "too weak".

"Unemployment is essentially unchanged, job growth is stalled and real wages have started to fall behind inflation," it added.

With the return of higher unemployment and weaker labour demand, the poverty rate has risen again and real incomes have fallen most quickly for the least well off

EPI
Moreover, unemployment has actually risen 1.3 percentage points since the start of the recession in 2001, when it stood at 4.3%

But Beth Ann Bovino, economist at Standard & Poor, said US job figures released on Friday showed employment was improving.

"The jobless recovery did see a pick-up. But what was good was that the figures for June and July were revised up sharply, and that's a good sign. There have been positive movements in job growth," she said.

The group, a non-profit and non-partisan think tank, also said that while many would expect the improving economy to boost wages and job satisfaction, this was not happening.

In fact, it found wages were "eroding". Blue collar manufacturing and non-supervisory service workers, who account for 80% of US wages, have seen their average real hourly wage fall 1.2% over the past year.

Fuel 'tax'

However, one expert argued that circumstances outside the US's control may be behind the hardships faced by weaker families.

Gary Schlossberg senior economist at Wells Capital said the huge rise in oil prices had "hit lower-income groups harder", as up to 20% of their budgets are eaten up in fuel costs.

"Also if you look at home ownership rates, they have gone up, so lower-income groups have benefited from the recovery - although upper-income levels have benefited the most," he added.

The Institute also highlighted huge differences between expanding and contracting industries.

Annual wages for staff in contracting industries were an average of $51,270 a year, while those in expanding were paid just $30,368 - a difference of 40.8%.

The report also echoes recent findings by the Census Bureau that showed the gap between the rich and the poor is widening in America.

'At a crossroads'

Figures from the bureau show that the ranks of the poor grew by 1.3 million people to 35.9 million.


"With the return of higher unemployment and weaker labour demand, the poverty rate has risen again and real incomes have fallen most quickly for the least well off," the EPI report said.

One of the report's authors, EPI senior economist Jared Bernstein, said that the report provided "a stark reminded of what's at stake when the job market remains as weak as it has been over the past few years".

He added that the US economy was now at a "crossroads", with the "preferable" path leading to a broad-based recovery and tight labour market.

On the other hand, all current trends pointed to an economy "like the 1980s", with lower income groups squeezed, sharp increases in inequality, growing budget deficits and high unemployment.

Working Your Way Down

Published: September 5, 2004
http://nytimes.com/2004/09/05/opinion/05sun1.html

As they so often do, economic reality and political expediency parted ways with the release of August's employment report on Friday. The reality is that unless President Bush pulls nearly one million jobs out of a hat in the next four months, he will indeed become the first president since Herbert Hoover to preside over a decline in employment in a single term in the White House. But Mr. Bush is determined to act as if nothing bad is happening on, as he likes to put it, "my watch." And so in his first appearance after the Republican National Convention - in a corner of the sliver of undecided America - he declared that the numbers showed that the economy is "spreading prosperity and opportunity and nothing will hold us back."

Nothing, perhaps, except the actual state of the job market. The United States gained 144,000 jobs last month, which is just barely enough to keep up with the number of people entering the work force. True, the job numbers for June and July were revised upward, but they were still weak, and much lower than August's. There was a tiny reduction in the unemployment rate - because the work force became smaller, not because of job creation. Eight million people were unemployed in August, all told, the same as in the month before.

Dig beyond the numbers, and the situation is even worse. Even with a slight acceleration in August, average hourly wages for the month are not likely to keep up with inflation (that number comes out in mid-September). As has been the case throughout the current economic recovery, wages are held down by the slow pace of job creation and, to a lesser extent, by the mainly service-oriented jobs available.

With ordinary Americans' wages eaten up by inflation and their debt at nosebleed heights, consumer spending - which accounts for two-thirds of economic activity - will not be able to get the economy humming. July's summer sales on cars accounted for virtually all of that month's big-ticket spending - most of it on credit. Already, economic growth in the second quarter has been revised downward a bit and consumer confidence registered an unexpectedly steep decline in August.

All of this makes Mr. Bush's assertion in his acceptance speech at the convention last week that what workers and the economy really need most is some new tax-sheltered savings accounts seem seriously beside the point.

Mr. Bush's preferred explanation is that workers' problems are just part of the normal business cycle, in which employment typically rises after corporations get enough money to make investments, and wages rise after corporations are satisfied with their profits. That means the problem will be self-correcting, justifying Mr. Bush's lack of economic policy prescriptions.

But this recovery is now nearly three years old, and employment and wages are not so much trailing business success as diverging from it. A new study of recent Commerce Department data by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities confirms that wage and salary growth has been exceptionally poor, while profits have been unusually robust.

Mr. Bush tends to attribute the unevenness of the economic recovery to the shocks that were already developing before his election (the stock market meltdown and corporate scandals) and those beyond his control (the 9/11 terrorist attacks). But this is the first time in more than 50 years that workers have for so long and so deeply failed to share in the benefits of growth.

Mr. Bush owes it to voters to look beyond the business cycle and his tax cuts and offer a way out of this economic sluggishness. Senator John Kerry would likewise do voters a favor by focusing the contest on ideas that might alter the status quo. No one is served by the current low level of the economic debate.

The economy is actually pretty good for most people... and no amount of liberal rhetoric is going to change that... People vote with their wallet and peoples wallets are fat at the moment... and most understand the simple difference between Dems and Repubs... Dems take away your money, Repubs want you to keep it....

no amount of dishonesty or spin will change that simple fact.. so post that crap until your fingertips bleed and it will not make a whit of difference.. And i thank the Elder Gods that americans are smart enough to realize that!
To tell the truth most people probably do what i just did.. scan that crap you posted to see where it was from and then laughing refuse to even acknowledge it. You might as well be quoting Bagdad Bob.

I wasn't aware that the BBC was not a trustworthy newsource. My bad. Lets fix your reply. You mean to say that republicans wallets are fat. Rich white upperclass republicans have fat wallets. And they want to keep it that way. let the rest suffer.

Not people.. so take off the blinders..

AVERAGE EVERYDAY PEOPLE'S WALLETS ARE FATTER AND YOU WILL SEE THE RESULTS IN NOVEMBER.

Like I posted in the 'Economics' subject, there are some good-paying jobs out there, such as truckdriving. The driver-shortage is getting worse, and with as little as 2-6 months of training, these people could be earning in excess of $30,000 a year. And the income usually goes up from there.

These people who are in need of a job could hit the road for a few weeks, travel the country, and make plenty of money...and they don't have to stand in the soup lines or hold a little-tin cup to beg for money.

Look, the unemployment rate will always hover between 3-9%. That's just the way it is.

And I don't care about 'job satisfaction.' If they don't like their job...so what! Let THEM go get another one.

And why does the income gap between the poor and the rich matter? There will always be the poor...and there will always be the rich. How does closing that gap improve either side??

Anyway, if you need a job, go to truckdriving school. Get on the road for 3-4 weeks at a time, and then come home and feed your family. Very simple. Easy work.

www.werner.com

www.usxpress.com

www.usa-truck.com

www.jbhunt.com

HAHA I never even thought about that!! You, sir, just helped the economy.... just like a good republican!

Yeah, I'm sure 911 had nothing to do with the unemployment rate. Unfortunately, the unemployment rate is dropping =(

But dont lose hope liberals! There is still a chance for the unemployment rate to climb higher (yay!):

So keep those fingers crossed...failure is always good for you guys right?

Maybe Kerry should move some of his Heinz-Kerry factories back to the US.
They have 32 in Europe and 18 in Asia and the Pacific. Check your Heinz
products to see where their made.

Thank you. Just doing my job. You see? You see how easy it was to figure out ways to get "millions" of people out of the unemployment lines? (Lines that sometimes stretch out over 10 blocks)

And let's not forget the millions of unemployed tin-cup beggers I have helped! NOW they can get a job!

Cool! It feels great to be a Republican! Now where's my award?


Well?


Come on! Hand me my award!!


COME ON NOW!!!


OK!! THAT'S IT!!!! SEE IF I EVER HELP THE ECONOMY AGAIN!!!!!!!



Ron