Clipmarks | Median wages Clips

Obama Turns FDR Upside Down

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 03:38:22 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: assuming the same life expectancy. But the principle remains that as workers’ wages rise so do the taxes they pay, and so do the benefits they will get from the system.

Although the formula connecting benefits to tax payments or “contributions” has evolved slightly over time, it still adheres to this basic message. Today, what Social Security terms a “low-wage” worker will pay (in present value terms) $77,197 over his or her lifetime and get $112,261 in benefits. A median-wage worker earning $42,000 will pay $171,550 and get back $187,085. A “high-wage” worker making $67,000 will pay $274,480 and get back $245,085.

Sen. Obama would do away with this principle by requiring higher-end workers to pay taxes without getting any extra benefits linked to their higher contributions. This would be a big step toward turning Social Security from a contributory pension scheme into just another welfare program.

Clip Source: www.retirementdebate.com

Neither Franklin Roosevelt, who started Social Security, nor the intervening three dozen Congresses thought they were imposing an “unfair” system on the middle class. There is a very good and principled reason why Social Security taxes are paid on just $102,000 of income: Benefits are calculated based on that same $102,000 of income.

The fundamental principle of linking taxes and benefits was established when Roosevelt designed Social Security. He wanted to make sure that it was not a welfare system, calling Social Security “a base upon which each one of our citizens may build his individual security through his own individual efforts.” His instincts have generally proved sound. Had Social Security been considered “welfare” rather than a return on taxes earned, it probably would never have had the popularity or the staying power that it has enjoyed for the last seven decades.

Under the current formula, lower-wage workers get a slightly better deal than do higher-wage workers,

Tags: social security taxes, contributions/benefits, president roosevelt's system, obama

OBAMA PANDERS/MISSPEAKS TO WOMEN

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 06:26:59 GMT

clipped by: bbdevil08
clipper's remarks: surprise...

Clip Source: www.nydailynews.com

. A 2007 report from The American Association of University Women, for instance, found that most of the wage gap could be explained by factors such as employment, education and personal choices. Pay differential wasn't just the result of sexism in the workplace

The statistic Obama repeats compares only the median wages of full-time working men with the median wages of full-time working women. It doesn't take into account different occupations by gender. Nor does it account for differences in total hours worked (Department of Labor data shows that even full-time working women spend less time in the office each day than men). Nor does it factor in years of experience (women take more time out of the workforce than men) or myriad other factors that impact compensation.

careeer software engineer

Thu, 15 May 2008 16:11:35 GMT

clipped by: eblnetzen

Clip Source: education.yahoo.net

Computer Software Engineer

- Interested in math and computers? Embrace the nerd within while you learn to design, develop, test, and evaluate computer software and systems.

Get the Degree: A program in software engineering or computer science can help you learn the networking and programming basics to hold your own in this high-tech career.

Happily Ever After: BLS expects a whopping 325,000 new jobs for computer software engineers through 2016. Better still, the 2006 median wages for these IT gurus ranged between $79,780 and $85,370, depending on field of specialization.

A Conservative Crisis Of Followership: David Frum

Thu, 08 May 2008 05:05:40 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: So, 2008 is not 1988. The problems are different and so must the solutions be.
The Reagan themes do not carry the power they once did. The conservative voting majority is not a majority any more. To compete and win this year Republicans have to adapt and change, not revert and revive.

The country has changed since 1988. Polls capture a shift to the left on economic issues. The once decisive tax issue has faded altogether, and no wonder: 80 per cent of Americans now pay more in payroll taxes than in federal income taxes. Americans care less about taxes than healthcare and fuel prices, issues where Republicans offer few solutions and speak with something less than passionate urgency. Americans are expressing a new pessimism about upward mobility and their children’s chances of leading a better life – an understandable reaction to the stagnation of median wages since 2000. Even on the signature issue of the war on terror, Americans are turning away from Republican ideas.

Clip Source: www.ft.com

Mr McCain could be the perfect candidate for this new mission. He is less bound by old orthodoxies than almost any other national Republican. He fought Mr Bush and Donald Rumsfeld, the former defence secretary, on Iraq strategy, and has been proved right while they have been proved wrong.

Unfortunately, Mr McCain has been a maverick on issues that matter least to voters: campaign finance reform, tobacco, climate change. On the ones that matter most to voters – healthcare, economic management, immigration – he has positioned himself with party orthodoxy and against the voters.

If the Democrats win the presidency in 2008 (as most polls suggest) and gain seats in both houses of Congress (as most experts predict), they will have scored their most decisive victory since 1964. In 1992 the Democrats won the presidency but lost seats in Congress; in 1976 they won the presidency but gained only one seat in the House and none in the Senate.

Tags: mccain, climate change, amnesty, campaign finance reform, tobacco, tax issue, median wages, war on terror

Tax Reform and Poverty

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 01:46:38 GMT

clipped by: dmegivern
clipper's remarks: Humorously, EITC was really a Nixon idea.

Clip Source: www.cbpp.org

TAX REFORM AND POVERTY

The tax system has a pervasive impact on poverty, both directly through its role in the distribution of society’s resources and indirectly through its effects on the incentives for economic decisions like working and saving. The two most important facets of the tax system for low-income families are payroll taxes and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), the former of which levies a tax on earned income and the latter provides a tax credit for earned income.

Underlying the persistence of poverty has been wage stagnation at the bottom. From 1973-2003, real hourly wages for men at the 10^th percentile of the earnings distribution fell 3 percent. At the same time, median wages fell 1 percent and wages for workers at the 90^th percentile rose 22 percent. The economic blow for families at the bottom of the income spectrum was partially cushioned by several expansions in the EITC

The EITC has several limitations that could easily be addressed by strengthening the credit.

Americans feeling the Strain

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:27:41 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.edstrong.blog-city.com

The fact is, under-privileged families have exhausted the coping mechanisms they have used for more than three decades to get by on median wages that are barely higher than they were in 1970, adjusted for inflation.

Male wages today are in fact lower than they were then: the income of a young man in his 30s is now 12 per cent below that of a man his age three decades ago.

Yet for years now, America’s middle class has lived beyond its pay cheque. Middle-class lifestyles have flourished even though median wages have barely budged. That is ending and Americans are beginning to feel the consequences.

The first coping mechanism was moving more women into paid work. The percentage of American working mothers with school-age children has almost doubled since 1970 – from 38 per cent to close to 70 per cent.

Some parents are now even doing 24-hour shifts, one on child duty while the other works.

Almost all the benefits of economic growth

have gone to a small number of people at the very top.

Tags: economy, finance, working conditions

America’s middle classes are no longer coping

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:50:40 GMT

clipped by: timetoflush

Clip Source: www.informationclearinghouse.info

The fact is, middle-class families have exhausted the coping mechanisms they have used for more than three decades to get by on median wages that are barely higher than they were in 1970, adjusted for inflation. Male wages today are in fact lower than they were then: the income of a young man in his 30s is now 12 per cent below that of a man his age three decades ago. Yet for years now, America’s middle class has lived beyond its pay cheque. Middle-class lifestyles have flourished even though median wages have barely budged. That is ending and Americans are beginning to feel the consequences.

The percentage of American working mothers with school-age children has almost doubled since 1970 – from 38 per cent to close to 70 per cent.

The typical American now works two weeks more each year than 30 years ago.

Personal bankruptcies rose 48 per cent in first half of 2007,

Tags: optional. separate by commas., revolution, ron paul, money, american government

Euro Set for Dollar-Like Swoon as Wages Brake Growth

Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:21:35 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.bloomberg.com

It's only a matter of time before the euro starts to imitate the dollar, thanks to train engineers and ticket-takers.

Germany's GDL union, representing 30,000 rail workers, won a pay raise of 11 percent last week, ignoring pleas by the European Central Bank to keep increases to a minimum.

As many as half of the 150 million employees in the euro-zone may use the contracts as a benchmark in wage talks this year,

The newfound spending power may force ECB President Jean- Claude Trichet to keep interest rates at a six-year high longer than he would like

The longer they're on hold, the bigger the risk to economic growth and the euro's 20 percent rally over the past two years.

The currency will decline 3.2 percent to $1.40 per dollar this year and another 7 percent to $1.30 in 2009, according to the median of 43 forecasts compiled by Bloomberg.

Tags: economy, currencies, i-exchange rate, i-depreciation, i-policy

The era of easy money is over

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 22:04:54 GMT

clipped by: JICWyllie

Clip Source: www.ft.com

middle-class families have exhausted the coping mechanisms they have used for more than three decades to get by on median wages that are barely higher than they were in 1970, adjusted for inflation. Male wages today are in fact lower than they were then; the income of a young man in his 30s is now 12 per cent below that of a man his age three decades ago. Yet for years America’s middle class has lived beyond its pay cheque. Middle-class lifestyles have flourished even though median wages have barely budged.

second coping mechanism. The typical American now works two weeks more each year than he or she did 30 years ago.

the third coping mechanism. We began to borrow, big time.

But this can no longer keep us going, either. The era of easy money is over

The anxiety gripping the American middle class is not simply a product of the current economic slowdown. The underlying problem began around 1970.

Tags: economy, consumers, i-income, i-decrease, i-debt, i-increase, i-forecast

South Carolinian wages depressed by immigration (with family "values, remember?)

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 08:28:18 GMT

clipped by: kcarr33

Clip Source: blog.vdare.com

South Carolinian wages depressed by immigration

Study links Hispanics, pay drop Posted on Fri, Aug. 31, 2007

As South Carolina’s Hispanic population has grown, wages for all workers have dropped, a USC study released Thursday found.

S.C. median annual wages, adjusted for inflation, dropped 3.1 percent to $28,039 between 2000 and 2005 when the state experienced rapid growth in its Hispanic population.

The study in question has now appeared on the website of the University of South Carolina’s Consortium for Latino Immigration Studies: The Economic and Social Implications of the Growing Latino Population in South Carolina (PDF file).

t is a devastating document which patriots could fruitfully study. Of course the authors twist themselves in knots to avoid being politically incorrect.

Tags: illegal immigration, bush treason, dictator bush

Your not earning what you father earned

Fri, 25 May 2007 15:06:26 GMT

clipped by: ekorstanje
clipper's remarks: Destroying the middle class in fact

Clip Source: online.wsj.com

Not Your Father's Pay:
Why Wages Today Are Weaker

American men in their 30s today are worse off than their fathers' generation, a reversal from just a decade ago, when sons generally were better off than their fathers, a new study finds.

In 2004, the median income for a man in his 30s, a good predictor of his lifetime earnings, was $35,010, the study says, 12% less than for men in their 30s in 1974 -- their fathers' generation -- adjusted for inflation. A decade ago, median income for men in their 30s was $32,901, 5% higher than 30 years earlier. Ms. Sawhill said she isn't sure why men's wages have stagnated. "It seems there's been some slowdown in economic growth, it's possible that the movement of women into the labor force has affected male earnings, and it's possible that men are not working as hard as they used to."

Tags: wages

U.S. Poverty at a 32 Year High

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 13:21:23 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.realcities.com

WASHINGTON - The percentage of poor Americans who are living in severe poverty has reached a 32-year high, millions of working Americans are falling closer to the poverty line and the gulf between the nation's "haves" and "have-nots" continues to widen.

A McClatchy Newspapers analysis of 2005 census figures, the latest available, found that nearly 16 million Americans are living in deep or severe poverty. A family of four with two children and an annual income of less than $9,903 - half the federal poverty line - was considered severely poor in 2005. So were individuals who made less than $5,080 a year.

The McClatchy analysis found that the number of severely poor Americans grew by 26 percent from 2000 to 2005. That's 56 percent faster than the overall poverty population grew in the same period. McClatchy's review also found statistically significant increases in the percentage of the population in severe poverty in 65 of 215 large U.S. counties, and similar increases in 28 states. The review also suggested that the rise in severely poor residents isn't confined to large urban counties but extends to suburban and rural areas.

The plight of the severely poor is a distressing sidebar to an unusual economic expansion. Worker productivity has increased dramatically since the brief recession of 2001, but wages and job growth have lagged behind. At the same time, the share of national income going to corporate profits has dwarfed the amount going to wages and salaries. That helps explain why the median household income of working-age families, adjusted for inflation, has fallen for five straight years.

These and other factors have helped push 43 percent of the nation's 37 million poor people into deep poverty - the highest rate since at least 1975.

Tags: poverty, in, america

Why it Sucks to Work in Child Care

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 03:20:02 GMT

clipped by: jpleuss

Clip Source: www.bls.gov

Significant Points

About 45 percent of all child day care workers have a high school degree or less, reflecting the minimal training requirements for most jobs.

More than a quarter of all employees work part time, and nearly 3 out of 10 full-time employees in the industry work more than 40 hours per week

Job openings should be numerous because dissatisfaction with benefits, pay, and stressful working conditions causes many to leave the industry.

Preschool teachers, teacher assistants, and child care workers account for about 3 out of 4 wage and salary jobs.

Child Day Care Services

Table 3. Median hourly earnings of the largest occupations in child day care services, May 2004
Occupation	Child day care services	All industries
General and operations managers	$23.78	$37.22
Education administrators, preschool and child care center/program	16.01	17.18
Child, family, and school social workers	13.80	16.74
First-line supervisors/managers of personal service workers	11.70	14.59
Preschool teachers, except special education	9.34	10.09
Bus drivers, school	9.28	11.18
Office clerks, general	9.12	10.95
Janitors and cleaners, except maids and housekeeping cleaners	8.04	9.04
Cooks, institution and cafeteria	7.93	9.10
Child care workers	7.34	8.06

Suggested citation: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Career Guide to Industries, 2006-07 Edition, Child Day Care Services, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs032.htm (visited February 19, 2007).

Tags: child care, wages, preschool

Entry level wages fall 4% from 2001 to 2005

Mon, 04 Sep 2006 16:37:48 GMT

clipped by: jklugman

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

September 4, 2006

Many Entry-Level Workers Feel Pinch of Rough Market

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

This Labor Day, the 45 million young people in the nation’s work force face a choppy job market in which entry-level wages have often trailed inflation, making it hard for many to cope with high housing costs and rising college debt loads.

Entry-level wages for college and high school graduates fell by more than 4 percent from 2001 to 2005, after factoring in inflation, according to an analysis of Labor Department data by the Economic Policy Institute. In addition, the percentage of college graduates receiving health and pension benefits in their entry-level jobs has dropped sharply.

Some labor experts say wage stagnation and the sharp increase in housing costs over the past decade have delayed workers ages 20 to 35 from buying their first homes.

Census Bureau data released last week underlined the difficulties for young workers, showing that median income for families with at least one parent age 25 to 34 fell $3,009 from 2000 to 2005, sliding to $48,405, a 5.9 percent drop, after having jumped 12 percent in the late 1990’s.

Worsening the financial crunch, far more college graduates are borrowing to pay for their education, and the amount borrowed has jumped by more than 50 percent in recent years, largely because of soaring tuition.

In 2004, 50 percent of graduating seniors borrowed some money for college, with their debt load averaging $19,000, Dr. Rouse said. That was a sharp increase from 1993, when 35 percent of seniors borrowed for college and their debt averaged $12,500, in today’s dollars.

Tags: wages, education

Real Wages Fail to Match a Rise in Productivity

Mon, 28 Aug 2006 13:20:56 GMT

clipped by: jklugman

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

August 28, 2006

Real Wages Fail to Match a Rise in Productivity

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE and DAVID LEONHARDT

With the economy beginning to slow, the current expansion has a chance to become the first sustained period of economic growth since World War II that fails to offer a prolonged increase in real wages for most workers.

That situation is adding to fears among Republicans that the economy will hurt vulnerable incumbents in this year’s midterm elections even though overall growth has been healthy for much of the last five years.

The median hourly wage for American workers has declined 2 percent since 2003, after factoring in inflation. The drop has been especially notable, economists say, because productivity — the amount that an average worker produces in an hour and the basic wellspring of a nation’s living standards — has risen steadily over the same period.

As a result, wages and salaries now make up the lowest share of the nation’s gross domestic product since the government began recording the data in 1947, while corporate profits have climbed to their highest share since the 1960’s. UBS, the investment bank, recently described the current period as “the golden era of profitability.”

Until the last year, stagnating wages were somewhat offset by the rising value of benefits, especially health insurance, which caused overall compensation for most Americans to continue increasing. Since last summer, however, the value of workers’ benefits has also failed to keep pace with inflation, according to government data.

Tags: wages, inequality, exploitation

Clipmarks | Median wages Clips

Obama Turns FDR Upside Down

OBAMA PANDERS/MISSPEAKS TO WOMEN

careeer software engineer

Computer Software Engineer

A Conservative Crisis Of Followership: David Frum

Tax Reform and Poverty

Americans feeling the Strain

America’s middle classes are no longer coping

Euro Set for Dollar-Like Swoon as Wages Brake Growth

The era of easy money is over

South Carolinian wages depressed by immigration (with family "values, remember?)

South Carolinian wages depressed by immigration

Your not earning what you father earned

Not Your Father's Pay:Why Wages Today Are Weaker

U.S. Poverty at a 32 Year High

Why it Sucks to Work in Child Care

Child Day Care Services

Entry level wages fall 4% from 2001 to 2005

Real Wages Fail to Match a Rise in Productivity

Not Your Father's Pay:
Why Wages Today Are Weaker