Washington Post (July 10)
“Is the full-time American job going the way of the dodo? The signs aren’t exactly heartening.” Part-time work has been rising, working hours declining and low-wage work increasing as part of an ongoing, long-term trend. The use of temporary workers through staffing agencies has also increased. “Left to its own devices, the American economy is eroding the American job. Hours decline, dragging take-home pay down with them.”
Tags: Economy, Employment, Full-time, Job, Part-time, Pay, Staffing agencies, Temporary workers, U.S., Wages, Working hours
The Economist (July 6)
“Good economic news has begun to fall on Britain like drops of rain in the midst of a drought. The country is parched: revisions to GDP estimates released last week suggest that output is still 3.9% lower than its 2008 peak, a worse performance than any other G20 country except Italy. As confidence returns, it seems almost impolite to point out that the British economy still has a sickly core of weak investment, productivity and wages, and that hard policy decisions lie ahead.”
Tags: Confidence, Economy, G20, GDP, Investment, Italy, Output, Productivity, UK, Wages
The Economist (January 26)
China has reached a major turning point. The number of working-age Chinese fell by a total of 3.45 million in 2012. “The mobilisation of Chinese labour over the past 35 years has shaken the world. Never before has the global economy benefited from such an addition of extra human exertion. Now the additions are over.” With the 15 – 24 year old population expected to decrease by 21% over the next decade, “the shrinking of the working-age population will put downward pressure on the saving rate and upward pressure on wages.” Urbanization and productivity enhancements may lessen the blow, if underutilized workers from the countryside take up more efficient positions in cities.
Tags: China, Economy, Labor pool, Population, Savings, Urbanization, Wages, Working age population
Washington Post (December 10)
“This is not a good time to be starting out in life. Jobs are scarce, and those that exist often pay unexpectedly low wages. Beginning a family—always stressful and uncertain—is increasingly a stretch.” America may be looking at a lost generation of 20-somethings.
Tags: Family, Jobs, Lost generation, U.S., Wages
The Economist (November 24)
Mexico is experiencing a boom as it benefits from economic trends. “Wages in Chinese factories have quintupled in the past ten years and the oil price has trebled, inducing manufacturers focused on the American market to set up closer to home. Mexico is already the world’s biggest exporter of flat-screen televisions, BlackBerrys and fridge-freezers, and is climbing up the rankings in cars, aerospace and more.” By 2018, America is expected to import more from Mexico than from any other country. “Made in China” is giving way to “Hecho en México”.
Los Angeles Times (May 9)
“Perhaps the only silver lining to the Great Recession is that it triggered a new focus on manufacturing in the United States. After 25 years of being sold a shiny vision of a service-dominated post-industrial economy, the U.S. is rediscovering how important it is to actually make things in order to spur innovation, raise wages, drive exports and lower the trade deficit.”
Tags: Exports, Great Recession, Innovation, Manufacturing, U.S., Wages
Washington Post (July 12)
The Great Recession has been the most “egalitarian” of the 11 most recent recessions to strike the U.S., according to Post columnist Robert J. Samuelson. Recessions often strike the poor the hardest, but no social class—rich or poor, educated or uneducated, professional or working class—has been insulated from the current recession. Jobs have been lost across the spectrum. House and portfolio values have fallen. High earners have had wages cropped. A recent survey shows 71% of Americans are now buying less expensive brands, 57% have reduced their vacation budgets, and 11% have delayed getting married or having kids. Only 45% of Americans now think their children will enjoy higher living standards in the future.
Tags: Future, Great Recession, U.S., Wages
The New York Times (July 6)
Chinese workers need better pay, better working conditions and independent labor unions. In short, “they need China to stop being sweatshop to the world.” The New York Times says “China needs to move on” from its export strategy, which depends on cheap labor and a weak currency. This strategy helped the country develop quickly over the past decade, but it’s now time to pay more attention to the workers.
Financial Times (June 11)
The rumbling in the world’s “assembly plant” is healthy. Striking Chinese workers are merely doing what has been done in “every successful east Asian country.” Rising wages are “a natural consequence of the country’s development and of the operation of labour markets.“ Both worker skill and productivity have increased throughout China, making it “entirely natural for pay… to rise to reflect those returns.”
Tags: China, Productivity, Strikes, Wages
