"There's no such thing as raises anymore" Pay Cut for US Workers

[G_j]

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/041105Z.shtml

Higher Prices, Stagnant Wages Produce Pay Cut for US Workers
By Nicholas Riccardi
The Los Angeles Times

Monday 11 April 2005

For the first time in 14 years, the American work force has in effect gotten an across-the-board pay cut.

The growth in wages in 2004 and the first two months of this year trailed the growth in prices, compounding the squeeze from higher housing, energy and other costs.

The result is that people such as Victor Romero are finding themselves falling behind.

The 49-year-old film-set laborer had to ditch his $1,100-a-month Los Angeles apartment because his rent kept rising while his pay of $24.50 an hour stayed flat.

"There's no such thing as raises anymore," Romero said. This is the first time that salaries have increased more slowly than inflation since the 1990-91 recession. While salary growth has been relatively sluggish since the 2001 downturn, inflation had stayed relatively subdued until last year, when the consumer price index rose 2.7 percent. But average hourly wages rose only 2.5 percent.

..more..

[fertilizeonarbusto]

1. No sh*t, Sherlock!

It seems I run out of money earlier every month. But thank Jeebus them faygots can't get married! :mad:

[tsuki]

11. Unless you are a Republican higher up.

[SkipNewarkDE]

2. Watching my paycheck get smaller

After being unemployed for over 14 months, and watching my finances collapse into ruin as unemployment benefits ran out, and I defaulted on creditors, I was ecstatic to get a job that payed a decent salary. I didn't even blink at the 90 minute commute each way to get to this job.

I have worked here for over two years. I have seen no raise, cost of living or otherwise, despite doing what my boss terms stellar work. This past year, for various reasons, we were not given bonuses, nor matching contributions in our 401K.

Fuel prices alone are almost twice as much as what they were when I started here. Food is more expensive. Material goods more expensive. My paycheck for which I was so happy to get after such a long period of not working, is suddenly getting smaller, not larger.

And I am in the computer engineering field.

This economy sucks.

[redqueen]

16. I've worked for 4 years with no raise... got a pay CUT, instead

and that's ON TOP OF the virtual pay cut I've had due to rising prices. AND I support a family of 4.

Family values my rear end. The GOP only cares about the rich.

[TahitiNut]

3. So, they didn't pump up the executive salaries enough ...

... to offset the slash and burn decimation of the bottom 99% of the workforce, huh? They don't often make that mistake.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

5. Soon to be corrected, surely. (nt)

[callous taoboy]

4. I get $200 a year raises as a teacher which

promptly gets sucked away by the yearly rise in property taxes and overall inflation.

[DebinTx]

6. Wow, someone got a raise in the last 14 years?

Geez, sure wasn't me. It was 10 years before I got my first raise at my current job. The raise was what I consider the minimum for each year worked, which was a significant boost but didn't address the no overtime pay that I've NEVER gotten nor anything closely resembling a pat on the back, but that was 5 years ago. The only reason I stay is because I can literally come and go as I please and that helps since I have kids. I'm a consulting structural engineer.

[spinbaby]

7. 5 years

My company hasn't given out raises in 5 years. But upper management got a spiffy new golden-parachute plan.

[Jamison]

8. Things are only going to get worse...

as wages continue to stagnate and inflation spirals out of control.

[Ilsa]

9. Please don't tell my husband's boss...

He is very interested in all employees (professionals) maintaining loyalty to the corporation. We've been getting cost of living increases. If he finds out there is a way to save the company money by not giving raises, he'll do it.

[xchrom]

10. who are they telling?

seems to me they are the only ones ''discovering'' anything here.

hope those conservative christians are still happy with their corporate lords and masters.

kansas? are you listening?

[lonestarnot]

12. Doomed we're doomed!

[Jo March]

13. Yes but at least my CEO got a good raise

That's all that counts, right?

[Wcross]

14. I work for a large multi-national company.

The only way I could increase my income was to get a promotion. It was pretty bad at my old position, they were hiring new workers at near what the existing workers made. One co-worker almost blew up when finding a new hire was hired in above what he was making. (the new worker was in no way more experienced or educated). He quit and is now making more elsewhere. It took me two years to get out of that department because my manager was blocking my move.
Loyalty will get you nothing. These days you have to move around if you want to increase your income. We have had plenty of people quit, go elsewhere and get a call a year later asking them to return at a much higher rate of pay.

[hfojvt]

17. that was how I got a raise in 1997

I got a higher paying job, and my boss, after he found he could not replace me, offered me the new higher pay if I would stay. I went from $5.5 an hour to $7.15. I scoff at materialism, but that jump was sure a boost to my general happiness.
Last year I went from part-time to full-time which effectively doubled my salary, so I do not fret about little things like raises. The only way we are going to get raises is if Congress raises the minimum wage and employers are forced to compete. That is not going to happen as long as Congress is Republican controlled.
Still, I think the trouble is that there are too many in the management and retired classes who vote, and too many in the working class and lower class who do not vote.

[redqueen]

15. Thanks a lot, bush-voting idiots.

:grr:

HE could have given a boost to American workers in SO MANY ways, but chose instead to help the extremely wealthy. Sadly, enough Americans are either stupid or delusional enough to think their middle or upper-middle-class incomes put them among the real elites (a group which is NOT made up of professors and movie stars, you morans) that they identify as 'wealthy' and so consider themselves as part of the in-crowd bush is catering to.

Soon enough they'll learn otherwise. Hope they enjoy lying in the bed they've made.

[hfojvt]

18. Ted Rall mentions a survey that showed that

17% of Americans think they are in the top 1%.

[redqueen]

21. Yep. People are so desperate to feel like they're part of it...

it's sickening and sad.

I really wish whatever characteristic it is that makes so many humans such willing followers would be targeted for derision and scorn, so that we could evolve already. As it is it's as popular as it ever was.

[Wcross]

23. In all fairness.....

I haven't been getting raises for the past 13 years! Sure, I would get 20 dollars a month once in a while but never anything substantial. I have never been able to increase my real wages after inflation- I just kept falling further behind.

[redqueen]

24. There's a vast diff btw substantial and existant.

Just MHO.

[G_j]

26. proof that common sense and critical thinking skills

are not considered important American "values" by many people.

I guess it's better to worry about gays getting married than health insurance for your children. (etc.)

[redqueen]

28. No...just learn what we tell you, pass the test, and get a job.

Critical thinking is something that we need to teach from the earliest levels, IMO. However, most focus is on the basis... and we're all paying the price.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[leftofthedial]

20. since 2000

I've had a 40% cut in pay, and have had to take two extra jobs to keep it from being worse. No raises. Benefits have been stripped to bare bones.

Still, I'm luckier than most. I am employed and have basic medical coverage.

[LizW]

22. Same here

My husband has been laid off twice since 2000, and each time had to take jobs making less. (We felt lucky that he got something.) He's been at his current job over a year now, with no indication of any raise any time soon.

He's making about 25% less than in 2000, and benefits are much less.

[Lorien]

25. In the Clinton years I made $150,000 a year

Last years income? $18,500 (granted, my employers still owed me $22,000 in unpaid wages-which I've really had to fight for, and some of which I still haven't recieved). Now THAT'S a pay cut!!

[seabeyond]

27. we arent giving any raises, too afraid

but, what i am going to do for an employee that voted for bush is give her a fill up a week to cover the rise in gas prices. tell her until gas gets back under two we will fill her tank once a week. she has a long drive.

this thing is for real. a lot of people didnt put much thought into voting for bush, because he was a christian and by gosh that is all that mattered. our taxes up significantly, gas up (we do lots of driving), insurance is up, supplies are up. and who knows what is going to happen around the bend

not all companies supporting this economy and providing wage for people are huge corporations making tons of profit

[G_j]

29. important to remember

"not all companies supporting this economy and providing wage for people are huge corporations making tons of profit"