The US Economic Policy Institute (EPI) last week published three reports showing the extent to which America’s workers are losing ground this Labour Day, said the AFL-CIO union federation on Sunday.
The AFL-CIO stressed: ‘People are dropping out of the workforce because there are no jobs and those workers who have jobs are earning less.
‘First, there are not nearly enough new jobs.
‘Nearly 15 million workers are unemployed, nearly a quarter of whom have been seeking work for more than a year.
‘Even though unemployment rose slightly to 9.6 per cent last month, it’s 0.5 per cent less than it was last October.
‘But that’s not because the economy has been generating that many jobs.
‘EPI economist Heidi Shierholz found that the percentage of people who were actually employed held steady even as the population increased.
‘Translation: The improvement in the unemployment rate has been almost entirely due to people dropping out of (or not entering) the labour force because of the lack of jobs.
‘Check out Shierholz’s report, “Employment Growth Continues Subpar Performance”.
‘And those who are working are making less. Wages for the typical worker have collapsed.
‘In “Recession Hits Workers’ Paychecks,” Shierholz and EPI President Lawrence Mishel show that workers who have managed to keep their jobs or find new ones during the economic downturn have suffered from stagnant or no wage growth.
‘Wages are growing half as fast as they were immediately prior to the recession.
‘That’s true in almost all occupations. The numbers were worse for men than women.
‘In fact, the median income for an average working household fell between 2000 and 2007 by more than $2,000.
‘This report, which you can find here, is the first in a series of reports leading up to the launch of EPI’s much anticipated “State of Working America” volume and revamped website in January 2011.
‘Finally, EPI has released a handy new tool that gives a clear statistical picture of the recession in one place.
‘Labour Day by the Numbers is a chart that lists pertinent facts about the economy in a quick, compact form with links to previous EPI reports.
‘For example, the section dealing with the unemployment rate shows the number of people who are jobless, the portion who have been unemployed for six months or a year, the number who are underemployed and other key facts.
‘You can check out the chart here:
• Change in total jobs in August 2010: -54,000; Change in jobs in August 2010, excluding 114,000 temporary US Census Bureau jobs lost that month: +60,000
• Change in private-sector jobs in August 2010: +67,000
• Change in public-sector jobs in August 2010: -21,000; Change in public sector jobs, excluding 114,000 temporary US Census Bureau jobs lost that month: -7,000
• Change in size of the labour force in August 2010: +550,000
• Accounting for population growth, number of workers that should have been added to the labour force since December 2007: +3.7 million; Actual change in the size of the labour force since December 2007: +241,000
• The number of unemployed workers for every job opening: 5
• Total jobs lost since the start of the recession: -7.6 million
• Manufacturing jobs lost since the start of the recession: -2.0 million (14.9% of sector’s jobs)
• Construction jobs lost in the recession: -1.9 million (25.1%, one in four construction jobs)
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: 9.6 per cent
• Number unemployed: 14.9 million (up from 7.7 million in December 2007)
• Portion of unemployed who have been jobless more than six months: 42 per cent
• Portion of unemployed who have been jobless more than a year: 21.9 per cent
• Underemployment rate: 16.7 per cent; Number of under- and unemployed, marginally attached, and involuntary part-time workers: 26.1 million
• Male unemployment: 10.6 per cent; female unemployment: 8.6 per cent
• White unemployment: 8.7 per cent; black unemployment: 16.3 per cent; Hispanic unemployment: 12.0 per cent
• Average weekly unemployment benefit in July: $306; Average weekly benefit in July for those who still receive the $25 provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: $331;
STATES WITH DOUBLE-DIGIT UNEMPLOYMENT IN JULY 2010: 11
• Highest unemployment rate: Nevada, 14.3 per cent; lowest: North Dakota, 3.6 per cent
• Highest black unemployment rate: Michigan with 23.7 per cent; Highest Hispanic unemployment rate: Nevada with 18.4 per cent
• Total change in number of state and local government jobs over the last two years (since the peak in August 2008): -282,000 jobs
CHANGE IN
PRODUCTIVITY 2002-07: +11 PER CENT;
CHANGE IN MEDIAN
COMPENSATION
2002-07: -0.6 PER CENT
• Annual private-sector nominal hourly wage growth in the year before the recession: 3.4 per cent; Nominal wage growth in 2010/2009: 1.6 per cent
• Share of income growth going to the top one per cent of households from 1989 to 2007: 56 per cent; Share of income growth going to the bottom 90 per cent of households: 16 per cent
• Ratio of average Chief Executive Officer’s (CEO’s) pay to typical worker’s pay in 1973: 27 to 1; Ratio right before the recession in 2007: 275 to 1
OVERALL SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFIT CUT FROM CURRENT RETIREMENT AGE INCREASE (65 to 67): 13 PER CENT
• Average annual Social Security benefit for a retiree: $14,050
• Share of retirees receiving all their income from Social Security: more than 1 out of 4
• Share of retirees receiving more than half of their income from Social Security: 69 per cent
• Share of older Americans (age 45 onwards) who prematurely took out funds from their 401(k), IRA, or other retirement investments in 2009: 18 per cent; Share of Hispanic older Americans who did so: 22 per cent; Share of African American older Americans who did so: 26 per cent
• Total decline in assets from pensions, 401(k)-style accounts and IRAs between 2007 and 2009: $1.5 trillion
• Number of workers whose employers do not offer a retirement plan: 78 million (49%)
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE FOR YOUTH (16-24): 18.1 PER CENT
• Share of youth (16-24) who are neither employed nor enrolled in school: 17.9 per cent
• Number of young people (16-24) who have dropped out of the labour force since the recession began: 1.1 million
• Youth (16-24) share of the labour force in August 2010: 13.6 per cent; Youth share of the unemployed: 25.6 per cent
• Unemployment rate for young (16-24) black workers in January 2010: 32.5 per cent; For young Hispanic workers: 24.3 per cent; For young white workers: 15.2 per cent
• The average student debt of graduates from private four-year institutions in 2000/01: $16,906; Average debt in 2007/08: $25,350
ANNUALISED RATE OF GDP GROWTH,
2nd QUARTER, 2010:
1.6 PER CENT
• When the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will cease to provide any boost to growth rate of GDP: Last quarter of 2010
• Change in size of the economy since the start of the recession 31 months ago: shrunk 1.3 per cent
• Number of full-time equivalent jobs supported through expansion of unemployment insurance since the beginning of the recession: 1.7 million.’