We already had several piece of news talking about that the unemployment rate has decreased currently. But according to this new article, people now actually haven't enjoyed the benifit.
There are some signs of life showed in the job market. And that's of course a good thing. It's just too bad that people still aren't making enough money to keep up with the fact that the cost of almost everything is getting more expensive.
"Hourly wages fell in November. So much for consumers having more cash to spend this holiday season. And over the past 12 months, wages are up just 1.8%. Through October, the consumer price index rose 3.5%. That's a big problem. "As we know, the inflation rate is pretty low, but it still higher than the wage growth.
There are several reasons that the job market still stinks. Employers still hold all the cards. Many people who have been out of work for years and can get jobs are just happy to get back to work. They're not going to take a hard-line stance negotiating how much of a salary they will get.
I dont think the majority of America really pays attention to anything other than the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate is so well known that many citizens might put too much faith in it. If the Unemployment rate keeps going down, while other measures like hourly wages fall, Obama will benefit greatly.
ReplyDeleteThe jobs market is showing signs of discouraged unemployed workers falling through the cracks; more than 300,000 as of the most recent report. This is no 'one off' but a continuing trend of employed that are no longer counted. Even laid off workers that are currently employed are worse off than before the 'great heist'.
ReplyDeleteCorporations are estimated to be sitting on 2 trillion dollars worth of cash which they not sharing with anyone; shareholders or their remaining employees. Through the use of slave labor and by skirting environmental laws profits are sky high.
Scheduled lay offs for 2012 are expected to exceed those of 2011.
I think the lower unemployment rate is a good start to what will be a snowball effect of improvement. Wages decrease during recessions and the United States is only just recovering. Business confidence needs to increase before they will feel comfortable sharing the 2 trillion dollars with employers and consumers. I hope their confidence increases soon as the next class of graduation seniors will soon enter the labor force.
ReplyDeleteAs the article points out, employers still have all the power. People are willing to work at lower salaries, so that they can have some income. The unemployment rate is decreasing and so is average income, but this is too be expected. Businesses are still nervous, so they do not want to spend more than they have to on new employees. While it would be ideal for both unemployment to be decreasing and income to be increasing, this does not seem very likely in the current economy.
ReplyDelete