Despite more jobs, US poverty rate rises

[G_j]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0831/p02s01-usec.html

from the August 31, 2005 edition

Despite more jobs, US poverty rate rises

Percentage of Americans in poverty grew for the fourth straight year, the US Census Bureau reported Tuesday.

By Sara B. Miller and Amanda Paulson | Staff writers of The Christian Science Monitor

Despite a year in which the US economy added jobs, the percentage of Americans living in poverty grew from 12.5 to 12.7 percent last year - the fourth straight year it's risen.
That increase, reported in the much-anticipated annual Census Bureau study Tuesday, surprised many analysts who had expected the number to drop along with unemployment.

Political pundits on both sides of the aisle rushed to put their stamp on the news, with Democrats blaming the trend on failed economic policies and Republicans pointing out that some regions and groups improved.

While the overall poverty numbers went up, for instance, the Midwest was the only region that experienced an increase. Rates for child poverty and the uninsured were unchanged - after experiencing a rise the year before - and most measures of income gap showed no change.

While the means of calculating the statistics have drawn criticism from both the right and the left, many experts see the annual figures as a useful yardstick by which to measure progress over time. And for some, the lack of long-term improvement is particularly troubling.

..more..

[gatorboy]

1. I'd love to see a list of these new jobs

A list of these {i]minimum wage jobs that you need to work half a dozen of just to keep your head abbove water.

[G_j]

5. & about those "jobs"

http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/26/news/economy/ceo_pay/index.htm

CEO pay: Sky high gets even higher
A new report shows top-dog pay bites shareholders, and alleges war profiteering among some CEOs.

August 30, 2005: 12:24 PM EDT
By Jeanne Sahadi, CNN/Money senior writer

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – If sky-high executive pay at publicly traded companies gives you vertigo, you might want to read this sitting down.

In 2004, the ratio of average CEO pay to the average pay of a production (i.e., non-management) worker was 431-to-1, up from 301-to-1 in 2003, according to "Executive Excess," an annual report released Tuesday by the liberal research groups United for a Fair Economy and the Institute for Policy Studies.

That's not the highest ever. In 2001, the ratio of CEO-to-worker pay hit a peak of 525-to-1.

Still, it's quite a leap year over year, and it ranks on the high end historically. In 1990, for instance, CEOs made about 107 times more than the average worker, while in 1982, the average CEO made only 42 times more.

<snip>
The report also compares the growth in average CEO pay – which was $11.8 million in 2004 – to the growth in the minimum wage. Had the minimum wage risen as fast as CEO compensation since 1990, the researchers calculated, it would now be $23.03 an hour instead of just $5.15. And the average production worker would be making $110,126 a year instead of $27,460.

..more..

[lebkuchen]

10. The average US production worker would get more for his money

in China.

[Liberal Veteran]

2. You can't replace good paying jobs with Wal-Mart wage jobs...

...and expect poverty to decrease.

That is unfortunately the willful blindness of the right. It's NEVER been just about jobs. Jobs are nice and helpful, but only in the abstract. If you lose your living wage job and have to take a crappy McJob that pays a few cents over minimum wage, then the economy still suffers.

[TechBear_Seattle]

3. A large majority of these new jobs

... are all low paying service jobs. I know quite a few former programmers and web designers, who once earned $60,000 salaries with stock options and complete insurance coverage, who now work as shop clerks making a bit more than minimum wage and no insurance at all.

[MountainLaurel]

8. Abso-fucking-lutely

Do you know if the job creation figures count new part-time positions?

The big issue in librarian circles these days are public libraries and universities that are replacing one or more full-time positions with several part-timers to get out of paying benefits. So would a full-time job that's been split as 4 ten-hour slots count as four new jobs created?

[TechBear_Seattle]

9. A job is a job

A tech job that pays $80,000 a year with benefits is sent to India.

Two service jobs that pay minimum wage with no benefits are created when the McDonalds down the street increases its staffing.

Because of welfare "reform", people are now allowed only two years of benefits before they get cut off (thank you, President Clinton.) The displaced techie sells his house, rents a studio apartment and lives off of the proceeds as he tries to find a job comparable to the one that was outsourced, saving his unemployment in case he can't find the kind of work he is trained and qualified to do. Because he is not seeking benefits, he is not counted as being out of work.

As far as labor statistics are concerned, there is a net increase of one job and unemployment is down. Our economy is getting better! Thank you, President Bush!

[G_j]

11. yep

good synopsis.

[TechBear_Seattle]

13. Just don't get me started

On why I know it is a good synopsis. Trust me: you don't want to know.

[HereSince1628]

4. Milwaukee has the fastest rate of poverty growth in the country.

according to the US census bureau.

And yet, Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin have all the things economists say are where they should be: bio-tech, medicine, higher education and service.

Wisconsin also has a highly educated workforce, and high school students are generating college entrance scores in the top ten in the country. Wisconsin also was a leader in the nation in inventing welfare reform.

This is the future for the rusting old industrial cities of the Great Lakes region. Expect larger and larger proportions of the population to be left behind. The gap here is growing.

[thecrow]

6. And now there are 1 MILLION people without jobs in NOLA

I wonder how that will impact these numbers?

[BootinUp]

7. So the Midwest is hammered and votes for the chimp anyways.

Thats my quick summary.

[rniel]

12. They're like those guys in Animal House

SPANK!!

Thank you sir may I have another

WHACK!!

Thank you sir may I have another

WHACK!!

Thank you sir may I have another

WHACK!!

Thank you sir may I have another