The American worker is in the worst economic straits in years, states a Rutgers University ‘scorecard’ released today. U.S. Workers In Worst Economic Shape In YearsBy Cliff Montgomery – Sept. 1st, 2008On this last Labor Day under the Bush Administration, it’s somehow fitting to verify that the American worker is in the worst economic straits in years. That’s the finding of a Rutgers University “scorecard” released today.The U.S. worker doesn’t need to read a college scorecard to know that things are bad, and getting worse, under this White House. But such efforts allow workers and others to demand change of their representatives, who all too often try to employ clever ways to deny the obvious.In Rutgers’ first American labor scorecard, its School of Management and Labor Relations states that–regardless of sometimes misleading numbers and explanations from the Bush White House–over 10 percent of U.S. citizens are unemployed, under-employed or simply have ceased looking for work in our shrinking labor market.That constitutes an increase of almost 25 percent from last year, according to the Rutgers study.Professor Douglas Kruse, the labor economist chiefly responsible for the scorecard, added that a steep decline in full-time employment for Americans, along with spiraling health care costs and growing consumer debt, were matters which simply cannot be allowed to continue forever.On top on this, the Labor Department a few days ago admitted that while the number of individuals applying for jobless benefits slowed for the third period in a row, that number remained above 400,000–a good evidence of an economy in depression.The Rutgers scorecard reveals numerous disastrous after-effects of the Bush economic system:
- The median weekly pay for U.S. workers has been stagnant in real terms since the Bush Administration took office eight years ago;
- Around 530,000 were the victims of mass layoffs over the last year–a growth of almost 5 percent;
- The federal minimum wage of $6.55 per hour has lost 40 cents from its value over the last decade, after one adjusts for inflation;
- Though employee health programs and employer-assisted childcare have grown in the last 10 years, they still fail to cover 3 out of every 4 American workers.
- About 4 percent of our workforce definitely aches for full-time work, but is forced by this weakening economy to work at only part-time jobs.
The Rutgers scorecard is designed to chart the health of American labor by investigating its chief economic indicators. The data, taken primarily from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, essentially reveals that the economic health of the U.S. workforce is in a bad way and getting worse.The Bush Administration certainly did not single-handedly create this state of failing economic health–but their quackery clearly made matters much worse.The basic Bush economic plan in fact is the essential neo-conservative mantra: Give the wealthy corporations at the top of the economic pyramid as much money and power as possible, and in time the “natural forces of the market” will force profits to eventually “trickle down” to every one else.But giant, multi-national corporations have a nasty habit of monopolizing their niche of the market, thus giving the boot to natural market forces–an especially frightening prospect for a national economy which increasingly creates skilled or semi-skilled “niche” workers. And monopolies have little reason or desire to pay workers what they’re worth.The reality of the last eight years has shown that this ill-conceived, arcane neo-conservative economic theory simply doesn’t work–and the American middle class has the spiraling debt and empty wallets to prove it.Like what you’re reading so far? Then why not order a full year (52 issues) of thee-newsletter for only $15? A major article covering an story not being told in the Corporate Press will be delivered to your email every Monday morning for a full year, for less than 30 cents an issue. Order Now!
