15 Signs That The Quality Of Jobs In America Is Going Downhill Really Fast

TEC ^ | 07/07/2013 | Michael Snyder

[SeekAndFind]

Trying to find a job in America today can be an incredibly frustrating experience. Most of the jobs that are available seem to pay very little, and there is intense competition for just about any job that is open. But it wasn't always like this. When I was in high school, I was immediately hired when I applied for a job at McDonalds because they were so desperate for workers that they would hire just about anyone that could flip a burger. But in this economic environment, a single nationwide hiring event conducted by McDonalds resulted in a million job applications, and only a small percentage of those applicants were actually hired. Our economy simply does not produce enough jobs for everyone anymore, and the percentage of "good jobs" continues to decline. That means that it is getting really hard to find a job that will enable you to support a family, and a lot of people end up doing jobs that they are massively overqualified for. But when times are tough, people are going to do what they have to do in order to survive.

One thing that we have seen in recent years is an explosion in the number of "temp workers" in America. Even some of the largest companies in America are using them. They like the flexibility of being able to bring in workers when they need them and of being able to dump them the moment they don't need them anymore. Sadly, those that work in the "temp industry" often work in deplorable conditions for very little pay. The following is a brief excerpt from an absolutely outstanding Pro Publica article...

In cities all across the country, workers stand on street corners, line up in alleys or wait in a neon-lit beauty salon for rickety vans to whisk them off to warehouses miles away. Some vans are so packed that to get to work, people must squat on milk crates, sit on the laps of passengers they do not know or sometimes lie on the floor, the other workers’ feet on top of them.

This is not Mexico. It is not Guatemala or Honduras. This is Chicago, New Jersey, Boston.

The people here are not day laborers looking for an odd job from a passing contractor. They are regular employees of temp agencies working in the supply chain of many of America’s largest companies – Walmart, Macy’s, Nike, Frito-Lay. They make our frozen pizzas, sort the recycling from our trash, cut our vegetables and clean our imported fish. They unload clothing and toys made overseas and pack them to fill our store shelves. They are as important to the global economy as shipping containers and Asian garment workers.

Many get by on minimum wage, renting rooms in rundown houses, eating dinners of beans and potatoes, and surviving on food banks and taxpayer-funded health care. They almost never get benefits and have little opportunity for advancement.

But these are the types of jobs the U.S. economy is "creating" these days. Low paying part-time jobs are continually becoming a bigger part of the economy. This is one of the primary reasons why the middle class in America is shrinking.

You can't support a family on what most of these part-time jobs pay. But our economy is not producing many high quality full-time jobs these days. The average quality of American jobs just continues to sink.

The following are 15 signs that the quality of jobs in America is going downhill really fast...

#1 The number of part-time workers in the United States has just hit a brand new all-time high, but the number of full-time workers is still nearly 6 million below the old record that was set back in 2007.

#2 In America today, only 47 percent of adults have a full-time job.

#3 Even though the U.S. economy created nearly 200,000 jobs in June, the number of full-time jobs actually decreased.

#4 There are now 2.7 million temp workers in the United States - a new all-time high.

#5 One out of every ten jobs in the United States is now filled through a temp agency.

#6 The U.S. economy has actually lost manufacturing jobs for four consecutive months.

#7 The official unemployment rate has been at 7.5 percent or higher for 54 months in a row. That is the longest stretch in U.S. history.

#8 According to one recent survey, 76 percent of all Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.

#9 At this point, one out of every four American workers has a job that pays $10 an hour or less.

#10 High paying manufacturing jobs continue to be shipped overseas. Sadly, there are fewer Americans employed in manufacturing now than there was in 1950 even though the population of the country has more than doubled since then.

#11 Today, the United States actually has a higher percentage of workers doing low wage work than any other major industrialized nation does.

#12 The U.S. economy continues to trade good paying jobs for low paying jobs. 60 percent of the jobs lost during the last recession were mid-wage jobs, but 58 percent of the jobs created since then have been low wage jobs.

#13 Back in 1980, less than 30% of all jobs in the United States were low income jobs. Today, more than 40% of all jobs in the United States are low income jobs.

#14 At this point, an astounding 53 percent of all American workers make less than $30,000 a year.

#15 According to a study that was released by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, only 24.6 percent of all jobs in the United States qualify as "good jobs" at this point. In a previous article, I detailed the three criteria that they used to define what a "good job" is….

#1 The job must pay at least $18.50 an hour. According to the authors, that is the equivalent of the median hourly pay for American workers back in 1979 after you adjust for inflation.

#2 The job must provide access to employer-sponsored health insurance, and the employer must pay at least some portion of the cost of that insurance.

#3 The job must provide access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan.

All of this is absolutely heartbreaking.

Once upon a time, just about any adult that was willing to work hard in America could go out and find a good paying job that would support a middle class lifestyle.

Now those days are gone forever.

But different conditions exist in different parts of the country.

What are you seeing in your area?

Are good jobs difficult to find?

[re_nortex]

We need our government to make American jobs the priority.

And the way to do so is simple. It's not necessarily easy but it's actually quite elementary:

• Abolish the minimum wage.
• Make right-to-work universal to destroy the power of Big Labor thugs.
• Eliminate regulations and agencies such as the EPA, NLRB and OSHA (among others).
• Repeal all corporate taxes.

The reason why business is faced with no alternatives but to outsource to overseas is because DemonRATS have hampered free enterprise at every turn. Take the domestic energy segment as but one example. It's been over-regulated and with Obama's offshore drilling ban, profits are hard to come by.

In short, the sole purpose of a business is to provide value to the shareholders and the hard-working people who were the risk takers, putting it all on the line in the interest of enterprise. America must remove those impediments to profitability. Once that happens, the American jobs will be plentiful and our country will again be an economic juggernaut -- China won't have a chance!

[kabar]

It is legal immigration that is killing the American worker.

[haroldeveryman]

“Bring back American jobs.”

Not so easy. Our Labor Unions are getting to be a thing of the past. It’s getting so that we’ll only have public worker unions that should be, and used to be illegal, and are now rip off the taxpayer by voting themselves exorbitant pay and pension funds.

The only way we can hope to get our manufacturing skills and technical knowledge back is by getting rid of public education public unions, and by making it easy for high potential foreign workers and students to remain in this country.

[Nowhere Man]

It is legal immigration that is killing the American worker.

Agreed. I think we need to cut back immigration to almost zero with the exception of those seeking asylum and/or marriage visas.

[onedoug]

Pardon the dark here, but many cemetetries are seeking even mildly talented sales people.

[Fee]

In the late 1980’s an average Chinese factory could not meet scrap/waste rate to be competitive with US workers despite their very low cost wages. Enter corporate America who developed overseas experience via NAFTA (remember that harmless free trade agreement free trading freepers supported). US corporations assessed the Chinese workers and determined that they were willing to do good work vs the initial Mexicans but needed better training and equipment upgrade. Remember the corporate spin? Teach China how to modernize, yes Americans may lose jobs, but you will end up with a free and more democratic China!!!??? It is moral and worth it for the US future. What a spin, many freepers brought it hook line and sinker. Now here is reality. Those in power never give up power. Result of free trade, China gets a technology upgrade courtesy of corporate America. Today the PLA is more modern, China is now a modern one party authoritarian nation and the US middle class is pulled down a notch so those on Wall Street and corporate America can fill their filthy pockets with the profits. What happen to the US workers who lost their high paying factory jobs, now high tech jobs, corporate America and Chamber of Commerce is more then happy to dump them on the US taxpayers via unemployment benefits and welfare. Think they are done with us yet? Hello Illegal Immigration Pathway (Amnesty) to US citizenship. Under this reform, the legalized illegals can work and the employer does not have to give them health insurance via Obamacare. Let me see, hire a US worker and you must provide Obamacare, hire a legalized illegal immigrant you do not. More US workers will be dumped by corporate America on the US taxpayers. Free enterprise cannot work if the businessmen lack virtue and patriotism.

[OldMissileer]

More-so, because most are poor and Hispanic (minority) they will in most cases get free college (I see this here all the time) while US born white kids will take on a lifetime of college debt, if they dont just give up.

That is exactly what the politicians and their apologists want.

Brooks is not a conservative. He wants the destruction of our Country and the people who made it great. He and the politicians think they will rule over the third-world detritus that will soon become the majority. They seem to not understand that once those people become the majority they will vote true Communists into office and those people will take these disingenuous fools out back and put a bullet in their heads. History is not their strong suit.

[zerosix]

"absolutely outstanding article by ProPublica"????????

Aren't these the "absolutely outstanding" folk to which the IRS gave conservative donor lists to for publishing or giving to other leftist groups?????

[rockinqsranch]

#1 The number of part-time workers in the United States has just hit a brand new all-time high, but the number of full-time workers is still nearly 6 million below the old record that was set back in 2007.

IIRC the Democrats took over Congress in 2007 didn't they. Everything has gone to 'H' since. Wondering what it will take to get the sheeple to notice who the really bad guys are.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Bump to your post.

[sickoflibs]

Here in Maryland I have personally run into a few blacks some immigrants, some not, who have told me personally that they got their college for free.

Both race and parents income level = others pay for their free college. No wonder they worship Obama.

Legalized illegals fall into the same category.

[sjmjax]

Not going to happen.

The American people even voted to 'out source' the Presidency!

[DannyTN]

What has changed is that we lowered the import tariffs back around 1960.
History of Tariffs in the U.S.

We need to raise them back up and rebuild our industrial base.

[dragnet2]

Great post...

Some people will just never get it...Or possibly they’re just part of the, profits regardless of consequences, crowd.

[re_nortex]

Or possibly they’re just part of the, profits regardless of consequences, crowd.

Profits are the reason for a company to exist. Management has a near-sacred responsibility to those with a stake in the enterprise to maximize profitability. The people who have taken the risks to create an enterprise and those who likewise risk considerable sums as shareholders must be rewarded. It's the American way and no other system has come close to achieving that kind of productivity and return on investment.

What needs to happen is to get government off the back of business so that they can enjoy the rewards of true, unfettered capitalism. The free market is an extraordinary invention since it promotes outstanding efficiencies for business and a rich assortment of services and goods for consumers at competitive prices.

As I noted a few posts back in this thread, American jobs will come home if the minimum wage is abolished and the thuggery of Big Labor is eliminated. Likewise the confiscatory taxation at the corporate level allied with regulations is a tremendous burden on business.

Corporations would doubtlessly prefer to stay in America but since the era of Reagan, the government has made "made in America" anything but a viable proposition.

[Trod Upon]

We have nothing like free trade. Our trading “partners” beat us to death with tariffs and duties of their own, which we bend over and take in the ass with a smile because it enriches certain segments of the population while pushing the bulk of the “middling people” farther down and out of the competition for resources. We absolutely need reciprocal tariffs to negate the artificial, manipulated advantages some of our “partners” have enjoyed for decades. That’s something government could do. But they’d rather strangle the survivors with regulations and use welfare to buy votes from their growing client class of impoverished Americans. If this trajectory doesn’t change, America will accept socialism within a decade or two—tops. And maybe that’s the plan.

[dragnet2]

Profits regardless of consequences

Profits are the reason for a company to exist.

Did ya see the "Regardless of consequences" part?

No?

So if it means selling out our country to the highest bidder, that's A-OK?

How'd that work out America?

[Rodamala]

What would Milton do?

[re_nortex]

So if it means selling out our country to the highest bidder, that's A-OK?

At present, business is faced with a Hobson's choice. The DemonRATs in change since 2007 have made it nearly impossible for a corporation to survive without outsourcing or offshoring. Sure, it's a tough choice but the shareholders are right to demand the utmost return on investment. How it does so is up to executives of the enterprise.

The return of American made products will most assuredly happen when government and Big Labor allow business to prosper. No business wants to send jobs overseas. But it's the only choice they have to survive in an environment where Marxist policies are triumphant.

After all, the chief business of the American people is business. They are profoundly concerned with buying, selling, investing and prospering in the world.

President Calvin Coolidge (25 January 1925).

You're a smart guy, ex-military and your postings are indicative of your intelligence. So, tell me dragnet2, as a business owner with responsibilities to your family and shareholder, would you allow the enterprise to perish or would you outsource if that allowed for profitability?

[re_nortex]

In the video, Dr. Milton Friedman speaking about Free Trade makes a compelling case in opposition to tariffs and protectionism. His thoughts about the American steel industry are worthwhile, especially how the consumer benefits from unfettered capitalism without the nanny state interfering in the marketplace.