NYT: Hourly Pay in U.S. Not Keeping Pace With Price Rises

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/18/business/18WAGES.html?ei=5006&en=04a7b36eeace4e32&ex=1090728000&partner=ALTAVISTA1&pagewanted=print&position=

The amount of money workers receive in their paychecks is failing to keep up with inflation. Though wages should recover if businesses continue to hire, three years of job losses have left a large worker surplus.

"There's too much slack in the labor market to generate any pressure on wage growth,'' said Jared Bernstein, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal research institution based in Washington. "We are going to need a much lower unemployment rate.'' He noted that at 5.6 percent, the national unemployment rate is still back at the same level as at the end of the recession in November 2001.

Even though the economy has been adding hundreds of thousands of jobs almost every month this year, stagnant wages could put a dent in the prospects for economic growth, some economists say. If incomes continue to lag behind the increase in prices, it may hinder the ability of ordinary workers to spend money at a healthy clip, undermining one of the pillars of the expansion so far.

Declining wages are likely to play a prominent role in the current presidential campaign. Growing employment has lifted President Bush's job approval ratings on the economy of late. According to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll, in mid-July, 42 percent of those polled approved of the president's handling of the economy, up from 38 percent in mid-March.

Yet Senator John Kerry, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, is pointing to lackluster wages as a telling weakness in the administration's economic track record. ``Americans feel squeezed between prices that are rising and incomes that are not,'' Mark Mellman, a pollster for the campaign, said in a memorandum last month.

[lovuian]

1. Ask Yourself is your Life Better with Bush this past 3 Years

Nope !!!

[RamboLiberal]

Only if your a member of the Haves and the Have Mores

or as * calls them - his base!

Yet he gets those who are being hurt the most cause he trots out God, Guns and Gays.

[indepat]

20. And the throng shrills "four more years, four more years."

[fearnobush]

2. This is true, My salary increase this year from last was reduced

by 65% and last year was no big increase to boast about. I figured that I am .6% behind the projected 2.9% inflation rate for this year. And I was one of the few this year who actually got a salary increase. So what about those new jobs? I'd like to hear some stories.

[louis-t]

3. I hear Taco Bell is hiring.

[Thor_MN]

18. Isn't it interesting that the recently high paying jobs, ie, IT jobs

tend to be filled with highly educated people. I have read of studies that state that the higher the education level, the more likely that liberal and progressive viewpoints exist. While I know plenty of conservative IT workers, my experience is that moderate and liberal mindsets dominate.

I find it no surprise that the GOP considers it "good" that the economic power of the IT workers is being exported to other countries.

[LibDemAlways]

4. Just before the chimp was

installed, new homes near me were selling in the 200-300K range. Those same homes are now reselling for 600-700K and up. I saw an ad in the local rag the other day advertising a "starter home that needs tlc" for 500K. The percentage of families that can afford to buy a house has fallen tremendously in this state. And yet, the cost of housing is left out of the inflation index, simply because it would boost the rate off the charts.

[Boomer]

11. Good God Almighty!

In my neck of the woods, $500,000 would buy a mansion with 20 acres of land with stables and horses thrown in to the bargain. Where the heck do you live, if I may ask?

[TahitiNut]

14. $500K is low end in Silicon Valley

It'll buy a 2200 sq ft condo - 3 BR, 2.5 baths, 2-car garage and patio.

[LibDemAlways]

16. I live in a Los Angeles suburb.

I own a 1689 sq. foot 3 bedroom/2 bath 25-year-old poorly built tract house. When I bought the house new, this area was considered way out in the boonies and people moved here because it was relatively cheap. Today, this area is considered upscale, and my house would sell for over 600k. Larger hillside tract homes in my neighborhood that sold new for 400K in 1998 are now reselling for over a million.

This rampant inflation was fueled by low interest rates. As the rates rise and the market cools down, the recent buyers are going to be left owing more than their homes are worth.

[Deja Q]

5. The key word is "should". For "should" read "won't"

Either way, it won't. They're too greedy.

While prices climb, do you see CEO salaries freezing or lowering while they fire workers? Nope.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

6. Inflation? Nonsense, absolutely not say the experts...

really, fears of inflation mean an improving economy (article in Rocky Mountain News, which, unfortunately, isn't available in their online format).
Anyway, the more they say it isn't happening, the more likely it is. MKJ

[Yavin4]

7. We Don't Have A Growth Industry Creating High-Wage Jobs

Normally, mfg and Information Tech were the pillars of high-wage job growth, but now, these industries, along with the jobs, are being sent overseas. Hence, since the end of the recession in November 2001 until now, the economy has only produced a little more than 1 million new jobs or only 300,000 jobs per year.

The only thing that has kept this economy in place has been historically low interest rates, courtesy of Alan Greenspan, a Bush whore. The down side to these low interest rates is increased inflation.

[happynewyear]

8. low interest rates are killling people trying to live on fixed incomes

<< The down side to these low interest rates is increased inflation. >>

I agree with this, but the other real downside to this is that people trying to supplement their living expenses with dividends from CDs, etc. are really struggling (like the elderly, etc.). They are getting hit heavily, increasing prices and very low dividends on what savings they might have to help pay for these expenses being their incomes are so low.

There is a lot less of everything for people in this category who most likely don't even qualify for loans, etc.

Its a real screwed scenario, believe me on that one! :grr: :argh:

[The_Casual_Observer]

15. How about the all good advice that says to put the CDs

into shares of common stock/mutual funds? After a short time they won't have to worry about their return, because they won't have any money to worry about.

[The_Casual_Observer]

9. As if this is news to anybody!

I doubt that any employer is paying the difference for the increases in "food housing and energy prices" the three small tidbits that are conveniently left out of inflation figures.

[Yavin4]

10. Don't Forget Health Care Costs

They're also left out of the inflation rate. Damn! What's in the inflation rate, paper clips?

[The_Casual_Observer]

12. I think it is based on the typical non food items purchased

at Wall-mart. The kind of items that are massed produced in China, and can steadily be reduced in cost as inflation increases. Plastic goods and textiles.

[leesa]

13. No shit Sherlock.

[DeepModem Mom]

17. This is page-one, lead story, NYT today --

[wolfgirl]

19. This article

should be shared with all our Republican friends.

In 1998-2000, my family of 4 had finally begun to breathe. We had a little $ to do the extra things - a vacation to DisneyWorld. Since Bush came to power, our $ doesn't include vacations or the extras we had been dreaming of. And, I've seen my retirement date warp off into the future 'cause I can't afford to retire (Hubby is disabled and kids are planning on college; can't afford private health insurance so gotta stay on the job). I know, at least I have a job, but for how long.

these goons gotta go!