Real average weekly earnings fell by 0.3% from February to March

[papau]

Real average weekly earnings fell by 0.3% from February to March after seasonal adjustment, according to preliminary data from the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). A BLS news release said a 0.2% increase in average hourly earnings was offset by a 0.5% increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).

Average weekly earnings rose by 3.7%, seasonally adjusted, from March 2005 to March 2006. After deflation by the CPI-W, average weekly earnings increased by 0.1%.

Before adjustment for seasonal change and inflation, average weekly earnings were $553.09 in March 2006, compared with $533.06 a year earlier.




http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.toc.htm

[PATRICK]

1. A question

Lazy me, I keep hearing the infuriating media talking points ad nauseam about how during carter's gas crisis the cost of gasoline adjusted for inflation was worse than now. But with real earning declining for most Americans, a deflation to meet the inflation of prices, how is the pinch distributed? And for minimum wage people it has to start being catastrophic since the number of dollars and the percentage of income has much more impact. In a statistical way how does the median and low income earner facing 3$ a gallon compare today to that same wage earner type with $1.30 a gallon in the late seventies?

So sickening is the current tired media propaganda that when I hear "maybe $3 a gallon by this summer" I was betting on a very early summer and if people were not burning down CNN headquarters and storming the Capitol it would be $4 and climbing before the frosts melted and the robins sang.

[papau]

2. If I come across data on your questions I will post the answers - but

my current semi-part time job does not get me the resources I once had.

In terms of opinion - I also expect 3.00 plus on gas this summer - early summer. And $5 per gal has been projected by folks that assume we will be unable to restore the Iraqi oil flow that Bush's bombing and now civil war have screwed up - and Thar IRAN will get pissed at Bush and cut back production - with Venezuela turning down production a bit - and with the US oil companies continuing their pretending that Katrina damage still exists to the point that 86% - rather than last years 91% and Clinton years 98% - use of that capacity - at 86% - is all they can do.

The gas shock that hit Pres Ford, and then hit Pres Carter twice, were much larger than anything to date under Bush - but $5 a gal would change that relationship, eh? :-)

As to the affect on low wage earners, the 70's were before Reagan greed is good, trickle down properity, you are on your own, and end of the nanny government. The government's safety net for the poor and middle-class is quite weak these days compared to the 70's. But I do not have exact numbers to give you. - Sorry.

[PATRICK]

3. Thank you

That is more thought and help than any of the massive media outlets with career journalists and economic experts will invest in crucial reality.

from personal experience I remember the employer who was really impressed at his generosity in present my wage increase of a low salary in an impressive percentage figure that did not amount to many extra bags of groceries. Had it been more of a living wage increase it would have been 100% and of course unthinkable and outrageous. The message of course for the poor is that they hate to pay anyone anything and the flip side of this show of generosity can often be hidden resentment- and one's future unemployment. Yet what do these fractional increases actually pay for? Very little.

[Delphinus]

4. Patrick, here in NE Indiana,

we're already at $3 per gallon. Went up yesterday. Had been $2.79.