[North-NV-Greens] Fwd: Real wages fall at fastest rate in 14 years

[Paul Etxeberri]

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>Date: Tue, 10 May 2005 23:30:12 -0400 (EDT)
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>Subject: Real wages fall at fastest rate in 14 years
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>Real wages fall at fastest rate in 14 years
>
>By Christopher Swann in Washington
>
>Financial Times  --  May 10, 2005
>
>http://news.ft.com/cms/s/f269a8f4-c173-11d9-943f-00000e2511c8,ft_acl=,s01=1.html
>
>
>Real wages in the US are falling at their fastest rate
>in 14 years, according to data surveyed by the
>Financial Times.
>
>Inflation rose 3.1 per cent in the year to March but
>salaries climbed just 2.4 per cent, according to the
>Employment Cost Index. In the final three months of
>2004, real wages fell by 0.9 per cent.
>
>The last time salaries fell this steeply was at the
>start of 1991, when real wages declined by 1.1 per
>cent.
>
>Stingy pay rises mean many Americans will have to work
>longer hours to keep up with the cost of living, and
>they could ultimately undermine consumer spending and
>economic growth.
>
>Many economists believe that in spite of the
>unexpectedly large rise in job creation of 274,000 in
>April, the uneven revival in the labour market since
>the 2001 recession has made it hard for workers to
>negotiate real improvements in living standards.
>
>Even after last month's bumper gain in employment,
>there are 22,000 fewer private sector jobs than when
>the recession began in March 2001, a 0.02 per cent
>fall. At the same point in the recovery from the
>recession of the early 1990s, private sector employment
>was up 4.7 per cent.
>
>Stagnant salaries push more families towards the
>breadline A surfeit of workers and the threat of off-
>shoring are allowing companies to call the shots on
>wages. 'There is still little evidence that workers are
>gaining much traction in their negotiations,' said Paul
>Ashworth, US analyst at Capital Economics, the
>consultancy. 'If this does not pick up, it raises the
>prospect of a sharper slowdown in consumer spending
>than we have been expecting.'
>
>Economists are divided over the best source for
>measuring pay increases in the US, since the government
>releases three main measures. A gauge of average hourly
>earnings is released with the employment report. This
>rose by 0.3 per cent in both March and April and 0.1
>per cent in February. Even with a slight rise in the
>hours employees are working, from 33.7 to 33.9, this
>suggests wages are struggling to keep pace with
>inflation. The gauge covers non-supervisory workers,
>about 80 per cent of the workforce.
>
>The Bureau of Economic Analysis figures for personal
>income showed wages rising at close to 6 per cent in
>2004 but slowing down since. This measure also showed
>wages rising by just 0.3 per cent in each of the past 2
>months. This is a broader gauge and includes small
>businesses and professional partnerships, but it
>measures total corporate wage bill rather than wages
>per person.
>
>The Employment Cost Index, seen by some as the most
>reliable measure, excludes overtime and professional
>partnerships.
>
>
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-- 
Paul Etxeberri

"Forests precede civilizations and deserts follow"   ---Chateaubriand