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Real wages fall at fastest rate in 14 years
Financial Times ^ | May 10 2005 | Christopher Swann

Posted on 05/10/2005 2:39:12 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Real wages in the US are falling at their fastest rate in 14 years, according to data surveyed by the Financial Times.

Inflation rose 3.1 per cent in the year to March but salaries climbed just 2.4 per cent, according to the Employment Cost Index. In the final three months of 2004, real wages fell by 0.9 per cent.

The last time salaries fell this steeply was at the start of 1991, when real wages declined by 1.1 per cent.

Stingy pay rises mean many Americans will have to work longer hours to keep up with the cost of living, and they could ultimately undermine consumer spending and economic growth.

Many economists believe that in spite of the unexpectedly large rise in job creation of 274,000 in April, the uneven revival in the labour market since the 2001 recession has made it hard for workers to negotiate real improvements in living standards.

Even after last month's bumper gain in employment, there are 22,000 fewer private sector jobs than when the recession began in March 2001, a 0.02 per cent fall. At the same point in the recovery from the recession of the early 1990s, private sector employment was up 4.7 per cent.

Stagnant salaries push more families towards the breadline

A surfeit of workers and the threat of off-shoring are allowing companies to call the shots on wages.

Go there

“There is still little evidence that workers are gaining much traction in their negotiations,” said Paul Ashworth, US analyst at Capital Economics, the consultancy. “If this does not pick up, it raises the prospect of a sharper slowdown in consumer spending than we have been expecting.”

Economists are divided over the best source for measuring pay increases in the US, since the government releases three main measures. A gauge of average hourly earnings is released with the employment report. This rose by 0.3 per cent in both March and April and 0.1 per cent in February. Even with a slight rise in the hours employees are working, from 33.7 to 33.9, this suggests wages are struggling to keep pace with inflation. The gauge covers non-supervisory workers, about 80 per cent of the workforce.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis figures for personal income showed wages rising at close to 6 per cent in 2004 but slowing down since. This measure also showed wages rising by just 0.3 per cent in each of the past 2 months. This is a broader gauge and includes small businesses and professional partnerships, but it measures total corporate wage bill rather than wages per person.

The Employment Cost Index, seen by some as the most reliable measure, excludes overtime and professional partnerships.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia; US: New York
KEYWORDS: demographics; economy; proiductivity; wages
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To: nickcarraway

That's funny, MY inflation was almost zero and my wages went up 4% last year...hmmm.

It's ridiculous to write stories like these that throw in ALL wages earned and try and compare that to the ridiculous calculation the government uses for inflation.

Both factors are different for every person because of individual choices made.


61 posted on 05/10/2005 4:43:42 PM PDT by Fledermaus (I have a big truck)
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To: Rickkimble

The report says 22,000 FEWER!! private sector jobs since bush got elected, and anyways, even 839,000 new government jobs does not take care of the 8 million new immigrant job seekers. It still means that we have over 7 million more unemployed since bush got elected.


An out of date number due to the large number of self- employed and new small business creation...they are not counted!


62 posted on 05/10/2005 4:46:25 PM PDT by kaktuskid
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To: AdamSelene235
Usually one performs measurements to confirm ones models.

And you'd do that by counting all 141,099,000 workers? Or is it all 133,300,000 workers? Wait, you mean there's already modeling going on?

You sound like this guy.

I'm SHOCKED!! Shocked to find modeling going on at the BLS.

63 posted on 05/10/2005 4:53:16 PM PDT by Toddsterpatriot (If you agree with Karl Marx, the AFL-CIO and E.P.I. please stop calling yourself a conservative!!)
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To: Rickkimble

Did you think that some of those 7 million may have left the labor force for other reasons?


64 posted on 05/10/2005 5:09:37 PM PDT by RWR8189 (Its Morning in America Again!)
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To: Rickkimble

The report says 22,000 FEWER!! private sector jobs since bush got elected, and anyways, even 839,000 new government jobs does not take care of the 8 million new immigrant job seekers.>>>>>

I have always maintained that one person added to a government payroll is in effect equal to putting several honest workers out of a job. MOST new government employees are not only non-productive but counter-productive.


65 posted on 05/10/2005 5:10:11 PM PDT by RipSawyer ("Embed" Michael Moore with the 82nd airborne.)
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To: Willie Green; Wolfie; ex-snook; Jhoffa_; FITZ; arete; FreedomPoster; Red Jones; Pyro7480; ...
Inflation rose 3.1 per cent in the year to March but salaries climbed just 2.4 per cent, according to the Employment Cost Index. In the final three months of 2004, real wages fell by 0.9 per cent.

Cheaper labor bump!

66 posted on 05/10/2005 7:07:49 PM PDT by A. Pole (Ukrainian proverb: "Iak buly moskali, buv khlib na stoli, a iak bude Ukraina, bude bida po kolina")
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To: nickcarraway

Well, that would explain the home prices.


67 posted on 05/10/2005 7:09:33 PM PDT by riri
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To: Diddle E. Squat
Misleading article. IIRC, the wage calculation used doesn't include or undervalues many benefits, commissions, and other non-standard forms of compensation.

Like rising costs of medical care?

68 posted on 05/10/2005 7:10:29 PM PDT by A. Pole (Ukrainian proverb: "Iak buly moskali, buv khlib na stoli, a iak bude Ukraina, bude bida po kolina")
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To: litehaus
Did that gal I saw on TV making 50 Grand a year for driving cars off the assembly line,in Detroit, to a parking lot lose her job?

He, he. They should hire some bum at minimum wage to drive these newly made cars. More drunk the better!

69 posted on 05/10/2005 7:12:38 PM PDT by A. Pole (Ukrainian proverb: "Iak buly moskali, buv khlib na stoli, a iak bude Ukraina, bude bida po kolina")
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To: bill1952
This has absolutely nothing at all to do with massive illegal immigration.

If that guest worker program gets passed the only race we'll see is to the bottom.

70 posted on 05/10/2005 7:14:13 PM PDT by Reaganwuzthebest
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To: RWR8189
There has been a net creation of 839,000 jobs created since Bush took office, not great, but not all that bad considering the unemployment stands at 5.2%, which is below the average UE rate of 70s, 80s, and 90s.

Putting aside the fact that unemployment in Europe is calculated differently and that it has different effect over there, what is has to do with USA?

Second these "839,000 jobs", how does it relate to the population growth? What are these jobs?

71 posted on 05/10/2005 7:19:04 PM PDT by A. Pole (Ukrainian proverb: "Iak buly moskali, buv khlib na stoli, a iak bude Ukraina, bude bida po kolina")
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To: velyrorenry

just like AMEX sent me that check from the savings they reaped when they offshored customer support from Phoenix to lower cost workers in India. I got some of that as one of their customers, didn't I? maybe the check was lost in the mail.


72 posted on 05/10/2005 7:21:39 PM PDT by oceanview
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To: nickcarraway

offshoring has alot to do with this. higher paying white collar jobs are being blown away by offshoring, and those that remain are seeing their salaries repriced as the US market is opened to the global labor pool.


73 posted on 05/10/2005 7:25:02 PM PDT by oceanview
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To: oceanview

yeah but when you can only get $250K if the doctor cuts the wrong leg, your insurance will drop by a whopping $10 a month :)


74 posted on 05/10/2005 7:26:39 PM PDT by velyrorenry
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To: NewRomeTacitus
Slaves don't make quality products.
Slaves don't innovate.
75 posted on 05/10/2005 7:30:17 PM PDT by motzman (now whatda?)
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To: A. Pole
I wasn't talking about Europe, so I don't really see what the relevance is here.

However if you are interested you can click here and see the unemployment rate of eight other industrialized countries using US concepts.

And if you want to do your own research as to where jobs have been created in the US, you can click here.

 

76 posted on 05/10/2005 7:32:47 PM PDT by RWR8189 (Its Morning in America Again!)
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To: NewRomeTacitus

Your posting of the cartoon says it all, man.


77 posted on 05/10/2005 7:33:39 PM PDT by Nowhere Man (Lutheran, Conservative, Neo-Victorian/Edwardian, Michael Savage in '08! - Any Questions?)
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To: A. Pole
Rereading your post, maybe you thought my abbreviation of "unemployment rate" as "UE rate" was referring to the "European Union" as "EU"?
78 posted on 05/10/2005 7:34:43 PM PDT by RWR8189 (Its Morning in America Again!)
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To: bill1952
This has absolutely nothing at all to do with massive illegal immigration. Nothing at all. - Move on.

THAT is a taboo subject in the Bush administration, sire. Yes, we must move on as we are ordered to...

79 posted on 05/10/2005 7:38:34 PM PDT by janetgreen (Minuteman Project = American Patriotism)
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To: Fledermaus
That's funny, MY inflation was almost zero and my wages went up 4% last year...hmmm.

You didn't pay more for gas, electricity, oil, meat, etc. Where do you live?

80 posted on 05/10/2005 7:40:11 PM PDT by raybbr
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