Rutgers Report: More Jobs Lost, But Wages Increase

TRENTON, N.J. — Despite the nation's highest jobless rate in 26 years, American workers are seeing some encouraging trends this Labor Day, according to a report released Monday by Rutgers University.

In its second national labor scorecard, the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations said that for workers still collecting a paycheck, the average inflation-adjusted wages have actually increased and wage gaps for women and minorities have declined.

Still, the jobless rate continues to rise.

The Labor Department last week said the unemployment rate jumped to 9.7 percent in August, the highest since 1983, reflecting a poor job market that will make it hard for the economy to begin a sustained recovery.

According to the study, nearly 17 percent of Americans are unemployed, discouraged from seeking work or underemployed. That's up from 10 percent last year.

"The bad news on unemployment is well-known. The risk of job loss has been quite stunning," said Rutgers professor Douglas Kruse, a labor economist who created the scorecard.

Kruse said some workers are adjusting by taking part-time jobs. According to the study, nearly 20 percent of workers have part-time jobs.

The Rutgers labor scorecard offered a mix of good and bad news:

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_ From January to June, there were 16.1 million new unemployment claims, a 72 percent increase from 2008.

_ More than 1.2 million workers were in extended mass layoffs, more than double the 2008 figure.

_ Minorities and people with disabilities were harder hit by job market stresses. The unemployment rate is 8.6 percent for whites; 14.5 percent for blacks; 12.3 percent for Hispanics and 15.1 percent for people with disabilities.

_ More than 6 percent of the work force wants to work full time, but is working part time because they can't find full-time work.

_ Average inflation-adjusted earnings rose 5 percent from 2008 for non-supervisory workers, and median earnings for all wage and salary workers increased 3 percent.

_ The federal minimum wage is now $7.25 an hour, or 9 percent higher than in 1999 after adjusting for inflation.

_ In 1999, women who worked full-time made 24 percent less than men on average. That gap has closed to 20 percent.

_ Black and Hispanic full-time workers earned 24 percent and 34 percent less than white workers a decade ago, respectively. Those figures have closed to 22 percent and 28 percent respectively.

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

Comments

[sanserve]

How To Create More Jobs America - Survey Results

What Congress, a long line of Presidents, and much of the population have lost sight of is the fact that even the dirtier businesses are job providers. They must be pampered, not pummeled; supervised and reined in but not tethered and broken.

Business income taxes are 100% inflationary; costs associated with employees (yes, even the minimum wage, which some suggest is the cause of our illegal alien problems) result in fewer employees hired. Period. Capitalism is not broken--- its success formula has been compromised.

Repealing the corporate income tax, and prohibiting any and all levies, fees, charges, and taxes on any form of business could instantly produce millions of job openings, lower prices, and create new business opportunities throughout the economy.

Repealing business income taxes would instantly make export products more competitive in world markets, as businesses reduce prices while maintaining profit margins. Greater profits should translate into growth in economic activity.

Finally, the elimination of these taxes would make all businesses run more effectively because there would be no need to spend money (or create losing transactions) just to cut the tax bill.

For the rest of the article, just Google: "How To Create More Jobs America".

Steve Selengut
http://www.kiawahgolfinvestmentseminars.com
Author of: "The Brainwashing of the American Investor: The Book that Wall Street Does Not Want YOU to Read", and "A Millionaire's Secret Investment Strategy"

[ssfahrer]

You have to remember that Rutgers is the "State University of New Jersey", i.e., run by and beholden to THE GOVERNMENT of the State of NJ. The state run by Jon Corzine. He formerly of Goldman Sachs. One of the companies that received the big bailouts from the Feds. They make me ashamed to admit that I got my MBA from their Business School in 1981.... Because none of them have a clue about real business. As the slogan goes, "If you can, you do. If you can't, you teach"!!!!

[jojovalley]

The statistic that wages are increasing is not good news, it is simply a result of middle-class jobs being shipped all over Asia. The only ones left behind in the USA are the "indispensables" required for development of new products and others who happen to be fluent in the Asian language of the manufacturing site.

Take a look at Silicon Valley, where engineers with PhD's make less on average than firemen. The average wage went up (~36% from 2001 to 2008), according to statistics, while the overall employment went down (-18%), see http://www.bls.gov/opub/regional_reports/200908_silicon_valley_high_tech.pdf. The fundamental economic law of supply and demand fails to explain these statistics.

Without significant policy changes to invigorate production in the USA we will continue to devalue education (again, San Jose firemen are making more on average than PhD's in engineering) and export the next higher tier of middle class jobs. Why can't we at least limit Asian jobs to normal business hours rather than 24/7. Sometimes they answer the phone for tech help and beyond the language difficulties I can tell they could really use to be sleeping.

Concentration of wealth into the upper reaches was only accelerated by this downturn. George W. Bush's base couldn't have asked for anything better to make their inherited wealth even more valuable. The poor working huddled masses in this country have not been so needy of work since the great depression.

[billw8017]

I think you reverse cause and effect when you say the concentration of wealth into the upper reaches was only accelerated by this downturn. Drawing off the money of manufacturing and commerce into idle paper reduces the market for manufacturing, earnings from manufacturing fail to support investment expectations, and once bubbles, equity trickery, and hoaxes all fail, the finance industry collapses.

The concentration of wealth in the upper classes is the fundamental weakness of our economy from which all the rest follows.

[noweknow]

More jobs lost for WORKERS but wages increase for Wall Street criminals.

[PhilLayshow]

Wages increase from 7.15 an hour to 7.19.

[zitlight73]

It only takes a small handful of Wall St execs getting taxpayer bailout bonuses and insurance company ceos making raking in an average of $14 million to totally skew how much the AVERAGE American is taking home, if he's lucky enough to have a job and a home.

[strut1702]

When was the last time you heard a liberal mention that our immigration system could be a part of the problem? Does anybody know how much the US population grew since 1980? It was 226 million. Today it is over 300 million. By 2050 it is projected at 500 million. We have the most agressive immigration system in the world. We can't take care of our own yet we let in 2 million+ people per year in addition to illegals coming in and people wonder why where are not enough jobs? Simple law of supply and demand says when you have alot of workers, wages will go down to the lowest bidder. The rational solution is to limit new immigrants unti we can find jobs for our own. Otherwise millions of more will continue piling in competing with the same unemployed americans.

[jjsardo]

We do not have an illegal immigration problem. We have a hiring of illegal immigrants problem.
Industry wants cheap labor. Illegals form a cheap labor pool.

You might check with your local Chamber of Commerce to find out what their views on immigration are. You'll probably find that they support it along with a host local businessmen and industries.

[strut1702]

No doubt. I agree with you 100% But will you agree that the special interests groups IE La Raza are working to prevent the US from enforcing the current laws on hiring of illegals? The fact is they don't want enforcement, they don't want E-Verify, they don't want walls, they don't want arrests. That leaves the US handcuffed. If we can't enforce the current laws immigration reform will never work. Add to the fact that liberal groups are pushing healthcare for all, you are only creating incentives for more immigrants to pile into the country. The taxpayer gets screwed. Both parties are doing this. Democrats turn a blind eye with hopes for new voters and Republicans due it for business owners to make a buck of slave wages.

[strut1702]

BTW, while I believe most are looking for jobs I believe others are not. There is a dangerous drug trade in the border states. Phoenix is the kidnapping capital of the country. It's only getting worse.

[zitlight73]

NAFTA was all about bringing us the US worker down to the level of the Mexican worker as far as wages and rights and to weaken the unions. If they went after the illegal EMPLOYERS instead of the illegal employees the problem would be cleared up real soon.

[sandzw007]

It is hard to imagine wages have increased.
Just another lie based on made up facts.

[billw8017]

I suspect you are right, and Rutgers, depending on the official rate of inflation, fails to fully account for an actual rate of inflation. Rising wages seem totally unnatural under present conditions, but what we might see here is the beginnings of a new "stagflation,' and the annual federal deficit is being "monetized" by natural forces.

President Obama is, I think correct, when he says recovery is measured by jobs and bringing Americans back to work. Saving the big financial firms without reforming them may be a mistake, a mistake mainly made by Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve whose guarantees dwarf the official stimulus package. The administration and Congress seem largely obliged to play along with Bernanke lest he does even worse. It's not as if Bernanke clearly knows where his money goes. If their passion for tax cuts were not so inappropriate, Republicans might deserve a little credit for resisting pseudo Keynesian spending on behalf of the banks.

[jjsardo]

The key phrase in the article is "for those still collectiing a paycheck". Obiously if you're not collecting a paycheck your wages didn't rise.

I wonder if there is an equation that calculates total wages and factors in wages lost through layoffs.
Would the results of such an equation conclude that wages are rising?

How does the expression go, there are lies, damned lies and there are statistics.

[LHoney]

jjsardo I'm a Fan of jjsardo I'm a fan of this user 3 fans permalink
I sincerely hope you never voted for Reagan.

If you did, I hope you regret it. I know Reagan fans hate it when I refer to his gush up economics. But we are all victims of it.

By all that's just, a salary for a family of four should be in the sixties at a minimum. The minimum wage should be around $11.00

__________­__________­__________­_

I was unable to reply to your post above. Why would you think I voted for Raygun? I was simply stating that the commenters were complaining about staying above water with $100,000 annual salaries and that the average American family of 4 earns aproximately $45,000 per year. While I am a registered independent, I have NEVER voted for a Rupuke in my life and I assure you, I never will.

[jjsardo]

I sincerely regret inferring that you might have voted for Reagan. Please accept my deepest apologies

[wonketteRAWKS]

If for some reason wages increased then benefit packages must have decreased.

[patriotrebel]

Wages increased? I wonder if they considered all those state and local agencies across the country that furloughed their remaining employees. Furlough = wage decrease. I think the State of California is up to 3 furlough days per month and considering adding another day. If the economy continues to tank or linger in the doldrums, the unemployment numbers could increase as state and local agencies resort to further layoffs rather than increase mandatory time off days without pay (furloughs).

Did the average wage increase because a disproportionate number of lower paid workers lost their jobs?

[gmailliw]

If only you bothered reading the article:


• Average inflation-adjusted earnings rose 5 percent from 2008 for non-supervisory workers, and median earnings for all wage and salary workers increased 3 percent.

[patriotrebel]

• Average inflation-adjusted earnings rose 5 percent from 2008 for non-supervisory workers, and median earnings for all wage and salary workers increased 3 percent.
----------­----------­----------­----------

The data above does not answer my question. Think about it real carefully...

[patriotrebel]

• Average inflation-adjusted earnings rose 5 percent from 2008 for non-supervisory workers, and median earnings for all wage and salary workers increased 3 percent.
----------­----------­----------­----------­-----

You can have a disproportionate number of lower paid workers layed off and still have the results cited above. So, you probably accept everything you read without much thought.

[Stephen Wahls]

Maybe we need to start our own busnesses that way we can avoid paying huge bonuses to executives. My question is have we made it too trublesome to start new businesses? Think of all that red tape and insurance issues, FICA and minimum wage. If we think we need jobs this is a route we could go. It will only work if we haven't poisoned the business environment with too many rules to allow our new business to flourish.

[billw8017]

Regulation is a tricky matter. The problem is "bad faith." Some business people try to pay less than the federal minimum, collect FICA and don't report it to the government, throw their garbage "over the fence" rather than pay to have it hauled away and perpetrate other little cheats rather than deliver either goods for pay or pay for goods. Even a person meaning to be decent and honorable may fool himself into some little cheat and provoke a regulation that should never have been necessary. Some regulations abound because previous efforts were not enforced.

And so, they pile up so that decent and honorable people can labor on a level playing field. At some point a grand regulatory reform may become necessary. At other times, as with the overturning of the New Deal reforms, a perfectly workable system is destroyed and people must learn again what these laws were meant to spare us from.

Any person seriously intending to start a business should stick to what they know and as with licensed plumbers, electricians, and contractors that means knowing the local laws that pertain.

[awright69]

In order to make it in your business, you have to get people, massive amounts of people, from shopping at the Wal-Marts and Targets where they buy cheap Chinese goods and NAFTA-grown and imported (read: factory farms if from the US, or from questionable western hemisphere nonlocal sources) produce. If it is a service you are selling, you have to compete against Juan and Eduardo doing it for 1/4th the cost.

SHOP LOCAL whenever you can, people! It has a direct benefit for YOUR community!

[billw8017]

American goods that once had a good reputation for quality are now often regarded as second rate. Particular foods are genetically modified in possibly dubious ways. We don't know for certain because the studies are sponsored by corporations that profit from a certain carelessness. So, we are amused when Chinese products fail to meet American standards with forthright cheats of even Chinese standards.

These failures to meet consumer trust have three sources 1) no personal relationship. Who cares? The people affected are remote strangers who are happy enough to overlook the abuse of "foreign" labor. So, a producer might even poison the product so as to mislead standard tests of quality. 2) Ignorant management: The managers understand profits, but don't necessarily have any pride in their product. They override "impractical' concerns for quality unconcerned and probably unaware that a better product might benefit the community ( which is not a vital concern, anyway.) 3) Salesmanship overrides value: Once example is how putting tap water in bottles allows it to be sold for more.

Buying local and buying craft goods will often be worth paying the premium prices.

[my2cnz]

I was laid off my job one year ago and I do not in any way, shape or form blame Obama or his administration. Rising unemployment rates, no matter how high they may go, is a direct result of the BUSH administration.

Stop blaming Obama!

[Artos]

This woman Beth Defalco shouldn't be allowed to post anymore columns if all she is going to do is tell lies.

[MTinMO]

Go back and read the title. Article is based on a Rueters report that shows the nuimbers. You can't blame her for the numbers they came up with.

[PunditBasher]

This is such BS
Wages did not increase

The total number of jobs decreased dramatically. Most of the jobs lost were lower paying jobs and none of the very top jobs were lost thanks to the bailouts. This means that the ratio of worker to executive shrank. Making the average wage go up. But nobody actually got a raise