For 53 million Americans in low-wage jobs, a difficult road out

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Unemployment is hovering near a five-decade low, workforce participation is at the highest level in six years and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell recently called the labor market “strong.” Yet, 44% of Americans age 18 to 64 are low-wage workers, according to a Brookings Institution report.

An estimated 53 million Americans are earning low wages, according to the study. Their median wage is $10.22 an hour, and their annual pay is $17,950.

While many are benefiting from high demand for labor, the data indicated that not all new jobs are good, high-paying positions. The definition of “low-wage” differs from place to place. The authors define low-wage workers as those who earn less than two-thirds of the median wage for full-time workers, adjusted for the regional cost of living.

“We have the largest and longest expansion and job growth in modern history,” Marcela Escobari, a co-author of the report, said in a phone interview. That expansion “is showing up in very different ways to half of the worker population that finds itself unable to move.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/for-53-million-americans-in-low-wage-jobs-a-difficult-road-out/ar-BBWpVXR?li=BBnbfcN

[Wellstone ruled]

1. The Reality of Supply Side Economics.

And how Corporate America loves these results. Gots ta pay the man!

[lastlib]

2. Trickle-down is really "Piss-on" economics.

That's all I have gotten since Reagan.

[Wellstone ruled]

5. You and I as well as 300 million others.

[Johnny2X2X]

3. The top half has lost perspective

I've been really lucky in my life, but I wasn't always so fortunate, I remember going to the store with $10 for a couple loaves of bread, a large pack of bologna, and a $1.00 jar of mustard to get myself through 5 days of meals.

People lose perspective, and above all they think they are insulated from struggling, most are just 1 bad event from losing everything.

[zeusdogmom]

7. That is very true

I am comfortably retired through sheer hard work and some good dumb luck but choose to work a seasonal part time at a job I absolutely love. We are all low paid hourly wage employees. I see first hand the struggle of some of my co-workers. Things as basic as transportation to work when you don't drive or have a car and there is no public transit, medical and dental work which gets postponed until there is a spot open at the low-cost clinic, limited food options. Working long, long hours at a hard physical job takes its toll. Needless to say there is no paid sick leave or time off.

[ansible]

8. Sad thing is I see it a lot here too on DU

If you thought the 2008 crash was bad, just wait for the next crash.

[Ohiogal]

4. A "great economy!"

For ....who??

[crickets]

6. +1

[ansible]

9. Bezos, Zuckerberg, Trump, et al...

[NCLefty]

10. I bet they make up a disproportionate % of the 92m eligible voters who didn't show up in 2016.

And I get it may be harder for them to vote but they need to make the time. There's no substitute for that one day.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

11. I've been through it, with my mathematics degree and my supposed IQ of 148...

... according to a Mensa-proctored test at a local library.

(1) The business world is TYRANNICAL. There's no true democracy for the "working class" in the USA! Merit has far less value than boot-licking in our system, in general, and that's what people in this country are exposed to every day in their lives!

(2) Some people ESCAPE the tyranny through "disability", even in cases when the so-called disability is absolute BS.

(3) The people suffering from their HELLHOLES begrudge the non-working more than than the true source of their sadness, the tyrants in control of their daily lives... the bosses at their jobs.

EDIT: And that's how our government has set it up! And people wonder why government is distrusted?!

[mnhtnbb]

12. I have been wondering how people get by

Just in the last month I've had $2100 in unexpected bills. I put off having my eyes checked for the last 3 years and finally went recently. I use 3 pairs of glasses: readers at home for books and laptop: progressives in my handbag; progressive sunglasses for walking my neighborhood or in my handbag when out and about. I needed new frames for the readers and fit the new prescription to the old progressive frames and progressive sunglasses. The bill? $1500.! I could have reduced it by not getting new frames for the readers or choosing less expensive frames, but I expect the new frames to last at least a decade.

Then my 13 yo dog got sick. $150 for the first vet bill while I was out of town with her, and 2 days ago another $450. at the vet here at home!

I am on Medicare with excellent supplemental plan but it doesn't cover vision or dental. Pet expenses all out of pocket. Fortunately, I don't have to live on SS, but a lot of people do after a lifetime of working for low hourly wages.

I don't know how people get by.