Workers' Wages, Benefits Tick Up 0.7 Pct. (WE'RE RICH!!!)

[underpants]

Remain calm! All is well!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/economy

WASHINGTON - Workers' wages and benefits grew by 0.7 percent in the final quarter of 2003 — the smallest quarterly increase in a year — as companies still uncertain about the durability of the economic recovery kept a close eye on their bottom lines.

The increase in the employment cost index for the October-to-December quarter marked a moderation from the 1 percent advance registered in the previous quarter, the Labor Department (news - web sites) reported Thursday.

The 0.7 percent increase in compensation marked the smallest gain since the fourth quarter of 2002 and was slightly weaker than the 0.9 percent rise that economists were forecasting.

"People who do have jobs should feel a little more secure because the major housecleaning appears to be finished," said Clifford Waldman, economist at the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, a research group.

[Arbustosux]

1. hmmmmm

I thought Bush said in the State of the Union address that the average family's income would increase by 4% and thats why he wanted to hold spending increases to 4% in the new budget

[underpants]

2. .7 X 4 =2.8% now round up............. to 4

See how fuzzy math works?

[mbperrin]

3. major housecleaning appears to be finished=BOOM!

Yeah, things are really ticking now!

[stevedeshazer]

4. Great.

It will help pay for the coming $2-3 per gallon gas.

[electricmonk]

5. Doing my part

To keep the average down. I didn't get a raise this year.

[llmart]

6. Well, t hat does it....

I'm logging off for now and running out to buy a new car, or new TV, or something big with that HUGE increase I supposedly got in my wages.

I guess if you factor in all the outlandish salaries the executives got it will look like the rest of us got an increase also.

Give me a friggen break already. No one believes this garbage any more.

[underpants]

7. Welcome to DU

:hi:

No no one does believe this anymore.

[Buns_of_Fire]

8. I feel MUCH more secure now

As a matter of fact, I chalked up a 10.4% increase!

(Of course 10.4% of zero is still zero, but when you're a member of the "long-term unemployed," you eke out whatever good news you can -- even when you have to make it up. Just like BushCo, when you come right down to it...)