Posted on 12/02/2009 10:40:56 AM PST by central_va
For Richard Crane, the "new normal" in the labor market began when he was laid off from a New Jersey battery plant in the summer of 2006.
Mr. Crane had been earning more than $100,000 a year operating heavy machinery at Delco, a former unit of General Motors. He worked there for 23 years, since graduating from high school. But when he lost his job he was thrust into a netherworld of part-time gigs: working the registers at Taco Bell, organizing orders at McDonald's, whatever he could find.
"I thought it would be temporary," says Mr. Crane, 49 years old. Three years later, he is selling outdoor furniture by day and pumping gas by night, while worrying about his skills atrophying and spending scant time with his teenage son. He makes about a third of his former pay.
Mr. Crane is part of a growing group of underemployed -- people in part-time jobs who want full-time work or people in jobs that don't employ their skills. Since the recession began two years ago, the number of people involuntarily working part-time jobs has more than doubled to 9.3 million, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the highest number on record.
The proliferation of underemployed could represent a profound reordering of the employment structure. Many people who had comfortable full-time jobs with benefits and advancement opportunities now are cobbling together smaller jobs often at lower pay, in a shift that economists say could become permanent for many individuals stuck in the cycle. Underemployment, along with unemployment, is widely seen as a force slowing the economic recovery.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Bottom line, the guy is busting his back end and so is his wife to hang on, and most on this thread are trying to discredit him. Unbelievable.
I always thought I would have it made when my annual salary was greater than a stripper. They make over 100K per year.....
C.N.C. operators are in demand and with some over time and depending on the area, $100,000 is entirely believable.
The guy was making more than a degreed professional. He can have his job, I don’t care. It’s the WSJ that made his salary public. It is somewhat shocking.
He could have been running a political machine. Who knows?
Well regardless if his compensation was right or not, he was living the American dream and is now finding it much more difficult. At least it sounds like he has a work ethic, just not focused enough to get new skills effectively, maybe.
“Bottom line, the guy is busting his back end and so is his wife to hang on, and most on this thread are trying to discredit him. Unbelievable.”
C’mon, this guy was working at Delco = auto industry = UAW = death to American manufacturing.
Bottom line is that with unions they push the price of labor up, and with higher price comes a lower quantity demanded. It’s just plain and simple economics. I don’t know the guy, but I know that when HS grads doing blue collar work are making north of $100K, then their job is jeopardy. That’s why unions need their power cut down to size, ultimately they put themselves out of business. Witness the auto industry. GM has been losing market share for over 35 years. DOA. RIP. This guy should have switched careers long ago, couldn’t see it coming?
I know a guy who was earning $100k in a Ford engine plant in 1988! Drilling holes. That included overtime.
In the Tiger Woods tradition......
Funny, I have never seen any "jounalist" write my story, what it is like to put yourself thru college on your own. Living like a dog, studying engineering, hoping you have enough to pay tuition and be able to buy ramen noodles to last the semester.
Now the Democraps intend to legalize 10s of million more low end job seekers who will compete to suck up jobs at this end of the job ladder?
Swell, huh?
Why should white collar workers be paid significantly more for shuffling papers, than the people who actually make something?
And in 1988, I knew a twenty-something who was making $100K selling mortgages to people who couldn't afford them.
I'm sure those drilled holes lasted longer than those mortgages.
The article is propaganda. The guy is the subject of propaganda and fair game.
The world he crapped on is gone forever.
To ask the question is to answer it - that guy isn’t making anything anymore, is he? Obviously he was paid too much.
I guess you can train an unskilled assemblyline worker in hours. A BS,MS or PHD costs thousands and requires years of effort. A trained skilled machinist should make respectible pay, I agree.
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