Posted on 06/19/2012 9:15:44 PM PDT by Steelfish
Underpaid, Underemployed And Barely Making Ends Meet Many Americans are stuck in jobs with low wages and lousy benefits
By Michael Cooper
6/19/2012
Throughout the Great Recession and the not-so-great recovery, the most commonly discussed measure of misery has been unemployment. But many middle-class and working-class people who are fortunate enough to have work are struggling as well, which is why Sherry Woods, a 59-year-old van driver from Atlanta, found herself standing in line at a jobs fair this month, with her résumé tucked inside a Bible.
(snip)
Ms. Woods’s current job has not been meeting her needs. When she began driving a passenger van last year, she earned $9 an hour and worked 40 hours a week. Then her wage was cut to $8 an hour, and her hours were drastically scaled back. Last month she earned just $233.
So Ms. Woods, who said that she had been threatened with eviction for missing rent payments and had been postponing an appointment with the eye doctor because she lacks insurance, has been looking for another, better job. It has not been easy.
“I’m looking for something else, anything else,” she said. “More hours. Better pay. Actual benefits.”
These are anxious days for American workers. Many, like Ms. Woods, are underemployed. Others find pay that is simply not keeping up with their expenses: adjusted for inflation, the median hourly wage was lower in 2011 than it was a decade earlier, according to data from a forthcoming book by the Economic Policy Institute, “The State of Working America, 12th Edition.”
Good benefits are harder to come by, and people are staying longer in jobs that they want to leave, afraid that they will not be able to find something better.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Bush’s fault.
So many government-linked rackets to bust, so much time.
And our elected leaders continue to support, even celebrate, the flow of illegals coming here. Shameful.
When was the last time a politican gave due consideration to the working middle-class TAXPAYER?
I think that has run its course.
Now it’s Romney’s Fault
Until our leaders (Hello Romney?) realize it is small business that provides jobs and not Wall St or the government nothing will change.
One size fits all regulations no matter if your opening a Mc Donalds or your own little hamburger joint. Everything is slanted in favor of the big shots.
I wish one of the anointed leaders on TV or government would try to open their own business and see how insane it is.
We need Employers if we want to have jobs
The way to do it is to "find something better", then leave. If you quit a job without having another lined up, you may be S.O.L.
NYT, MSNBC, come on
It’s obvious what the New York Slimes wants - Communism or Socialism. What does the Tea Party want - For the Government to Get Off Our Backs!
I couldn’t imagine how companies would deal with a real recovery (that included jobs); a LOT of people would be fleeing companies that have adjusted wages to “the new normal”.
I don’t believe we will see unemployment ease for several years to come; it will still be an issue in the 2016 election.
Who did you vote for Ms Woods?
Job applicants wait during a weekly job fair sponsored by the Atlanta Workforce Development Agency job fair in Atlanta, Georgia, earlier this month. Americans fortunate enough to have a job are often overqualified and find that wages and benefits are down, leaving many unable to meet their expenses.
Yet 97% of African Americans will again vote for Obama in November.
“Meet Many Americans are stuck in jobs with low wages and lousy benefits”
I thought zero said the private sector is doing just fine.
Underpaid, Underemployed And Barely Making Ends Meet Many Americans are stuck in jobs with low wages and lousy benefits.
So what does Obama do gives amnesty,yeah that will fix it.
Adding 800K illegals with work permits certainly doesn’t help.
That's the way the unions want it - and even though their influence is diminishing, you will find few politicians willing to risk their wrath by proposing legislation to remediate these one-size-fits-all laws and regulations.
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