A U.S. Recovery Built on Low-Paying Jobs

[EV_Ares]

The economy is not creating opportunities at the high end.

Before she lost her job last November as a full-time health department caseworker in Aurora, Ill., Amy Valle was making $23 an hour. Now she's paid $10 an hour as a part-time assistant coordinator in an after-school program. "From here on out, it will be a struggle," says Valle, 32, whose husband lost his $50,000 government job and still is out of work after a year. "I don't feel like there's any place we can go to get what we were getting paid."

While the unemployment rate dropped to 9 percent in January, from a two-decade peak of 10.1 percent in October 2009, many of the jobs people are now taking don't match the pay, the hours, or the benefits of the 8.75 million positions that vanished in the recession, according to Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics in Toronto.

This may restrain wage and salary growth, limiting gains in consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the U.S. economy. The good jobs that would trigger a solid boost in spending just don't seem to be there. "In the last recovery we were adding management jobs at this point, and this time it's disappointing," says Ashworth, who published a report on Jan. 27 about pre- and post-slump employment based on U.S. Labor Dept. data. "The very best jobs, we're still losing those."

entire article @ following link: http://buswk.co/fJVSuB

[SoCalDem]

1. Not a jobless recovery...a less-job recovery

:(

[Turbineguy]

2. But it's OK

Because for 1000 or so people who take these draconian cuts, another investment banker gets a Ferrari.

[Tansy_Gold]

3. So tell me, where in the bible does it say

a part time assistant coordinator of an after school program can't be paid $23 an hour?

Where does it say -- Hebrew scriptures or New Testament, doesn't matter which -- that the person standing behind the drive-thru window at McDonald's can't be paid $15 an hour?

Who can cite Christian authority for low pay?

Here's a thought --

1. Eliminate corporate income taxes so they can't be used as a bludgeon.

2. Tax ALL personal income -- wages, self-employment earnings, capital gains, dividends, inheritance, etc. -- the same, with progressive tax rates based solely on the AMOUNT of income, not the type.

3. Establish a national living wage.

Oh yeah, and while you're at it, lift the cap on FICA wages.


TG, TT

[xchrom]

4. ...

:applause: conservative christians love to ignore Deuteronomy and the pages of prophets telling the people how they should set land right.

and jesus has been usurped by paul.

[dkf]

6. If they tax capital gains at regular income they need to raise the amount of capital losses

You can use. It is not fair to be taxed for gains in one year and not be able to get a refund on losses in the next if your net gain is zero.

[Tansy_Gold]

8. Do I get to do that with my wage and salary income?

I didn't think so.

Capital gains used to be categorized and long- and short-term, recognizing the difference between assets held for "investment" and those merely traded in the hope of quick profit. Maybe if people had to cover their own losses they'd learn to be better "investors."


TG, hard ass

[Poboy]

5. recommend

[NNN0LHI]

7. When everyone's wages are patterned after non-union wages this is what we get

I liked it better when everyone's wages were patterned after union wages.

Don