America - Sliding Down The Shitter

[Aegon]

More jobs than workers means pay will go up. It just takes some time for that to happen.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/worker...2018-07-31

American workers are finally reaping the benefits of the lowest unemployment rate and best jobs market in decades: Wages and benefits are rising at the fastest pace in a decade.

The employment cost index rose 0.6% in the second quarter, a tick below the MarketWatch estimate of 0.7%.

More important, the cost of worker compensation in the form of pay and benefits edged up to 2.8% to mark the biggest yearly gain since mid-2008.

That's good news! I'm happy about that! Things are better relative to recent years. But in the grand scheme of things, it's peanuts; it's nothing! Wages increased by... 0.5 percent? That is an insignificant percentage and, honestly, it's most likely due to the fact that 18 states raised their minimum wage this year. In actuality, wages have been consistently outpaced by inflation, while economic gains have exclusively gone to those in the top income brackets (as I clearly outlined in my previous post to you.)  You can see for yourself that real income has not seen any substantial increase in the last few decades. There's plenty more sources than my last post to show you this is a severe issue.

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/201...r-decades/

But after adjusting for inflation, today’s average hourly wage has just about the same purchasing power as it did in 1979, following a long slide in the 1980s and early 1990s and bumpy, inconsistent growth since then. In fact, in real terms the average wage peaked more than 40 years ago: The $4.03-an-hour rate recorded in January 1973 has the same purchasing power as $22.41 would today.

I'm happy that things are improving relative to a few years ago. I'm not going to be upset with some positive news. But baby boomers and Gen X'ers have been conditioned to be content with peanuts. I'm not. Those who are keeping our economy afloat are not seeing any real benefits. You know where it's all going....



If more jobs than workers caused pay to go up at the rate that it should have over the last 30 years I think it would've happened by now. Any positive increase or progress is only good relative to what it was prior.