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

[Rosco T.]

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

July 18, 2004
Hourly Pay in U.S. Not Keeping Pace With Price Rises
By EDUARDO PORTER

he 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.

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[izzie]

1. More work for less money and two working in a family so by all means

vote for Bush so you can also give up over time pay. For get your retirement as Bush's friends are running that for you. But as I say vote for Bush and they will. 50% will any how. Like they can never figure this out.

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. Negative rolling consequences of outsourcing.

It's not like the negative consequences of outsourcing are fully realized yet. It is going to get progressively worse around here as those tight budgets translate to thrifty consumerism.

[teryang]

3. I've never seen anything like the poverty

...manifest now in my area. It's spreading. Urban decay and blight in a suburban area.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

4. I've never seen anything like the poverty

...manifest now in my area. It's spreading. Urban decay and blight in a suburban area.<<

It's all part of making Amurka safer don't you know. Really.

[gpandas]

5. as the number of union workers...

shrinks, so do the waqes of the american worker. many people i know said, "we don't need unions anymore, because management does not treat workers poorly anymore." yeah, sure.