Data: Workers Worse Off On Pay, Employment

(AP)  This Labor Day finds workers in worse shape than they've been in years, according to a scorecard released Monday by Rutgers University.

In its first national labor scorecard, the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations said more than 10 percent of Americans are unemployed, discouraged from seeking work or underemployed. That is a nearly 25-percent increase from one year earlier.

Professor Douglas Kruse, a labor economist who created the scorecard, said a sharp decline in the number of Americans able to find full-time jobs, along with growing consumer debt and health care costs, were causes for concern.

"But there are some bright spots long term," Kruse said, including improvements in workplace safety, a small but growing percentage of employers offering support for childcare and employee wellness programs, and more Americans who are completely satisfied with their jobs.

Meanwhile, the Labor Department last week said the number of people signing up for jobless benefits declined for the third straight period, but remained above 400,000 - an indicator of a slowing economy.

The Rutgers labor scorecard offered other sobering findings:

About 530,000 were subject to mass layoffs in the last year, growth of nearly 5 percent, but a lower rate than five and 10 years ago.

The median weekly earnings for American workers have not grown in real terms over the last eight years.

At $6.55, the federal minimum wage is worth 40 cents less per hour, in inflation-adjusted dollars, than it was a decade ago.

While employer-assisted childcare and employee wellness programs have grown quickly over the last decade, they still cover less than one quarter of American workers.

Roughly 4 percent of the workforce wants to work full-time, but is working part time because they can't find full-time work.

The scorecard, which doesn't assign grades but charts whether indicators are improving or getting worse, is based primarily on data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

[toldyouso12]

Posted by rhs648 at 01:55 AM : Sep 02, 2008

This ire is turning to unfair prejudice and for some, hatred. But it is a hatred that was EARNED by the right. For their behavior toward government and their arrogance that anyone/everyone different than they must be brought to heel either by cramming laws down their throat or at the point of a gun. The rank and file Republican may not want to admit this, but the GOP already has--the word Republican is quickly approaching the same disdain and ugliness of Nazi in many people''s eyes so that in speaking to others abroad--they turn up their nose in distaste when discussing the US but esp. any who subscribe to the tenets of the GOP. That group has become a joke and a bane on the rest of the world--it would be different if they kept their evil to themselves--but they did not. It was under the Republicans that for the first time, America had to remove its name from the Geneva Conventions and our President had to seek protection from prosecution for potential war crimes--THAT is what the ideas of the GOP has wrought and Republicans are roundly despised for that and for Bush. This sentiment is not simply something shared by Dems and liberals--many Independents share it and the rejection of Republican hypocrisy and "values" is almost world wide.

[toldyouso12]

Posted by rhs648 at 01:55 AM : Sep 02, 2008
The reason for the ire against the Republicans which transcends this country and is increasing all over the world is due to those ideas resulting in the US lying about a war of aggression and causing the death of hundreds of thousands if not millions of people. It has resulted in us supplying cluster bombs to Israel to bomb civilians in Lebanon. Those ideas have allowed Americans to embrace torture, condone rendition and the cheapening of life all over the world. To justify invasions and proclaim ourselves heroes immune from prosecution, to hire mercenaries, to turn our heads and acquit those who tazer others even for "free speech" (Don''t taze me bro). next post

[toldyouso12]

"In its first national labor scorecard, the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations said more than 10 percent of Americans are unemployed, discouraged from seeking work or underemployed. That is a nearly 25-percent increase from one year earlier. "

Says it all.

[afmca]

This is Republican capitalism. The people that do so little make so much; while the people that do the work get so little. Since Repubs only voting issues concern abortion rights and g*a*y marriage, this downward trend for all Americans will continue. In normal times this would be another nail in the Repub coffin, but since life after birth is not a Republican concern, they still have a chance.

[venkata4--2008]

"Life is but a joke...so why am I not laughing?

Grizzster

Posted by Grizzster at 02:37 AM : Sep 02, 2008"

People in difficult situations only know how that economy is. When a GOP presidential candidates says anybody making less than 5 millions are not rich says it all. According economists 0.1 % make that kind of money. That is 99.9% does not make that money. According to him our economy is doing so good. No body sees a falling real time salaries or raising health care & educations costs. He does not even know how many homes he has. Does current prez. knows how many he has. May be his mark of rich 5 billions per year.

[rushliberal]

WOW - just like at the end of That Other Bush that was President.

[tootall10142]

The gred of the american people brought this ever failing report card.the half million dollar homes designer clothes , so your teenager doesnt dress like the folks across the tracks.Well the folks across the tracks are now youre nieghbors and you moved into thier nieghborhood.hows that hemi look parked in the drive way of a house worth less than the vehicle? Dont look down look across thestreet the same person you struggled not to become is probably offering you a hand up not a hand out.

[sara48909]

It is no one''''s business how many children another woman has or if a woman has a child with Down''''s Syndrome. If this woman has the energy and desire to aspire to her own career and life, that is her business.

************************************
When this woman is trying to be elected to the position that is one heartbeat away from running our country it is the business of EVERY person in the US. If this was Jane Smith, downtown business owner it would be all her own concern. But when her thoughts and actions will effect everything that happens in this country it is no longer simply her business. Being elected to the highest or second highest office in the land means that there is NOTHING that is not important. Her thoughts, her beliefs, her actions will all reflect upon this country. We have already suffered the past eight years from someone who was incapable of successfully running our country. We cannot afford to repeat the mistake.

[grizzster]

I have lived in NE Ohio for 16 years now...the want ads in the papers are thinner than they''ve ever been and the pay is the same as it was in 1992...and often I see the exact same jobs! If I can somehow manage to beat out 300 other applicants for the same *** job, I will find the pay scale to be the same as it was twenty years ago. A salary of less than 20 grand a year for full-time employment was *** in 1988 and it''s so abysmal now that it''s not funny. Is it any wonder so many are discouraged and don''t even try to find something better? Add age discrimination to the mix and it''s tempting as hell to take a long swim in Lake Erie, maybe to Canada, if you know what I mean, and I think you do.

Life is but a joke...so why am I not laughing?

Grizzster

[rhs648]

I was part of the Women''''s Lib movement 40 years ago, back before Title lX, back before the ERA. And even then a woman''''s family came first. Palin is the one subjecting her family to this scrutiny. The notion that women can have it all without sacrificing something is a fallacy. In this instaqnce it is Palin''''s family that is making the sacrifices so that she can run for office. Perhaps if she had been providing supervision, attention, and sexual education to her 17 yr old she would not now be pregnant. But we will never know for sure. What we do know is that she has a 4 month old baby that needs a lot more care and attention than she has to give him right now. If Palin''''s family is being dragged through the mud who threw them out in the street in the first place.

Posted by sara48909

If you were part of the women''s Liberation Movement, you no longer share their beliefs and values. It doesn''t matter whether Palin is a store clerk, a teacher, or a political leader. You judge her just like many men judged women 40 years ago. It is no one''s business how many children another woman has or if a woman has a child with Down''s Syndrome. If this woman has the energy and desire to aspire to her own career and life, that is her business.