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Vol. 82/No. 12 March 26, 2018
(front page)
Uptick spurs jobs, picks up confidence of working class
BY BRIAN WILLIAMS
There’s an uptick in the capitalist economy, more jobs are open, and
that’s giving workers more confidence. If you have options, can look for
higher-paying work, and don’t have to worry every working hour how to
make ends meet, you’re more willing to take on the boss and join in
fights for better pay, benefits and a union.
But when you look at recent figures on pay increases, there’s a sharp
class difference in who gets what. The biggest raises are going to the
bosses and their henchmen, while workers get much less — and see much of
that eaten up in growing inflation.
Those with the lowest pay have to shell out higher proportions of their
income for basic necessities. “The highest inflation is in the goods and
services over which people have the least discretion,” investment
adviser John Mauldin said in his Feb. 25 newsletter.
“Inflation affects the bottom 50% more than it does the top 50% by
income,” wrote Mauldin. “Because there are certain necessities of life
that must be purchased, and because many of those goods and services
(such as housing, and health care) have higher than average inflation,
the bottom half suffers a much higher inflation rate than the overall
national average.”
According to the government’s Consumer Price Index, overall inflation
over the past 20 years totaled 55.6 percent. Median wages barely went
above this figure, with housing and food not far behind. Increases for
medical care and child care were more than double the inflation figure.
Costs for “hospital services” went up close to 250 percent. At the same
time, clothes, household furnishings, TVs, cellphones and software
technology declined in prices — big-ticket items that workers can set
aside to make ends meet.
The government’s “core” Consumer Price Index rate, which excludes items
that eat up higher percentages of workers’ wages, like food and gas to
drive to work, was up 1.8 percent over the past year. But average weekly
wages didn’t keep pace, rising only 0.4 percent, according to the Labor
Department.
Many workers are forced to turn to credit cards or “payday” loans to get
by, and rapidly find themselves saddled with rising interest payments
and debt.
One reflection of workers feeling they can find better paying work was
reflected when the Labor Department announced 313,000 jobs were created
in February. As workers look for better options, there’s a shortage in
some of the lowest paying and most grueling jobs. That includes
farmworkers, so crops are rotting in the fields, Fortune magazine
reported. Farmers in California and elsewhere are pressing Washington to
let in more immigrants, one way or another.
There is a sharp shortage of thousands of long-haul truckers, as higher
wages for some is boosting spending and production. But, “it’s a hard
life,” driver Greg Gedenberg told CBS News at a truck stop on I-80 in
Iowa. “I mean, I’ve got a 36-inch box that I’m sleeping in, in the back
of my truck.”
“I think if they want to hire more drivers,” he said, “they’re gonna
have to increase the pay.” But fleet owners are resistant, fighting to
defend profits amid rising competition.
Pay for U.S. bosses and their henchmen on the shop floor have
skyrocketed. From 1978 to 2013, compensation packages for corporate CEOs
rose 937 percent. The top bosses at the five largest banks were paid on
average $25.3 million last year, up 17 percent from 2016.
‘Wages have hardly budged’
“Even after eight years of economic recovery and steady private-sector
job growth, wages for most Americans have hardly budged,” reported the
New York Times Feb. 28.
In some areas where one major employer dominates the market, like
Walmart in many small towns or coal companies in West Virginia, bosses
have pressured workers to sign contracts with “noncompete clauses” that
limit workers’ ability to find new jobs after leaving an old one. One in
five workers with a high school education or less are saddled with these
restrictions.
This situation results from the fact that bosses have taken advantage of
the weakening of workers’ unions today. The number of unionized
manufacturing workers fell from 15 to less that 10 percent over the last
15 years.
While the number of unionized workers overall has fallen by 2.9 million
since 1983, the number of workers grew from 88 million to 133 million,
the government says.
The official unemployment rate for February is at a near-record low of
4.1 percent, but this figure excludes workers eliminated from the
workforce because they’ve been out of work long-term. The so-called
labor force participation rate — those employed or actively looking for
work — was 63 percent in February, just a small increase during the
capitalist “recovery” and still near its lowest level since the late
1970s. And some 5.2 million people wanting full-time work are employed
part time.
Meanwhile, credit card debt has reached a seven-year high. In the fourth
quarter of 2017 credit cards accounted for 59 percent of all loans
written off by the banks as uncollectable, some $11.9 billion. Overall
consumer debt, excluding mortgages and other home loans, rose 5.5
percent from a year earlier to $3.82 trillion, the highest on record.
Related articles:
Inspired by W.Va. victory workers organize to fight
Victory of W.Va. teachers builds labor movement
Get in a car, take a plane, join workers in struggle!
Bosses disregard for safety led to Washington Amtrak derailment
Appalachia telecom workers strike against Frontier
Ky. teachers fight threat of government pension cuts
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