Economic Recovery Still Not Reaching Working People

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2006/09/01/economic-recovery-still-not-reaching-working-people/

Economic Recovery Still Not Reaching Working People

The nation’s unemployment rate remained essentially the same last month, indicating once again the economy is not creating enough jobs to meet the increase in the workforce—another sign that the economic “recovery” is not reaching working people.

Since 2004, the economy has been growing at a healthy clip, the unemployment rate is low and productivity growth has accelerated from the already elevated levels of the late 1990s. But very little of the resulting prosperity is finding its way into the pockets of America’s workers.

Income and wages are not keeping up with inflation, the household debt burden is growing, health insurance coverage continues to decline and poverty rates remain higher than before the last recession. Wages and salaries now account for the smallest percentage of our gross domestic product on record, while corporate profits are at their highest level since the 1960s.





The 128,000 new jobs added last month was slightly higher than the total in July, but 6,000 less than in June. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) reported last month there are only 1.9 percent more jobs today in the United States than in March 2001 (the start of the last recession). Private-sector jobs are up only 1.5 percent. If the employment rate had returned to pre-recession levels, nearly 4 million more people would be employed.

As America’s workers head into the long Labor Day weekend, the latest jobless figures underscore the lousy state of the nation’s economy. In the latest edition of its biannual State of Working America 2006–2007, EPI says the five-year-old economic expansion that began in late 2001 has resulted in faster productivity growth—but the workers who are producing more are not being paid more.

In fact, real income is lower for the typical family than in 2000, while the incomes of the wealthiest families have grown rapidly. The full report will be released tomorrow, but EPI released portions of some chapters last month.

The State of Working America backs up comments by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney at the AFL-CIO Labor Day news briefing Wednesday:

A few weeks ago in a meeting with the media, President Bush said our economy is “solid and strong” and “creating real benefits for America’s workers and families.” Apparently the President should get out more. Workers …tell us they’re struggling harder than ever—they’re not seeing “real benefits”—they’re seeing real decline and real struggle.

FULL story at link above.

[valerief]

1. Was it ever supposed to? I thought only obscenely wealthy

people were supposed to benefit from it.

[Warpy]

2. It's not reaching working people because

it's not SUPPOSED TO. Since our industry has all been exported, there's very little reason to keep most of us around any more.

The super rich Straussians envision a country of parkland with a small servant class to sustain them. They don't care how they achieve it.

[Double T]

3. Economic recovery for the super rich and corporate america........

was done at the expense of the working people.