The threat of the job-is-worth-less recovery

MSNBC MONEY ^ | 10-27-2003 | Jim Jubak

[Cacique]

Jubak's Journal

The threat of the job-is-worth-less recovery

Yes, jobs are finally being created, but U.S. workers will find their incomes increasingly pressured by lower wages, higher benefit fees and global competition. That’s good for your boss but could hurt the markets.

By Jim Jubak

Okay, it’s not a jobless recovery. It’s the job-is-worth-less recovery.

The economic recovery we’ve anticipated for so long is here. Forecasters think the data will show the economy grew by 6.1% -- some say as much as 6.5% -- in the three months that ended Sept. 30.

And the jobless recovery doesn’t look jobless after all. Payrolls grew by 57,000 in September, and the number of people taking temporary jobs, an indicator of future job growth, climbed by 33,000.

Initial claims for unemployment dropped another 4,000 to 386,000 in the latest report. That’s below the 400,000 level that many economists believe marks the difference between times of growing employment (such as now) and times of growing unemployment (as in much of 2003).

But despite all that, Americans are not optimistic about the future. October’s 89.4 reading on the University of Michigan poll of Consumer Sentiment, for example, was just 15% higher than the 10-year low hit in March 2003. Remember March? It wasn’t exactly the most optimistic of times. The war in Iraq was still going on when the survey was taken. Polls taken in the last month show a majority think the country is headed in the wrong direction.

[Cacique]

W's Achille's Heel, the economy. The problem it's his buddies and big GOP contributors that are sending our jobs abroad.

Does the RNC know that many of the unemployed are Republican's? I doubdt it.

[Cacique]

ping

[RiflemanSharpe]

ping

[RiflemanSharpe]

Free trade is costing the Americian middle class dearly.

[Always Right]

Sounds like the Democratic talking points got out before the news of increasing salaries propelling the recovery hit the press.

[1rudeboy]

Far less than "no trade" would.

[babble-on]

Yes, all those incredibly cheap goods are terrible.

[1rudeboy]

Democrat talking-points? Give credit to Pat Buchanan when it's due.

[Cacique]

The point is t5here is no Free trade, nor fair trade for that matter. We're being taken for a ride by China, India and a bunch of other places. But, hey. What the heck? The big contributors of both parties are making a killing. Why should they care?

[staytrue]

The problem it's his buddies and big GOP contributors that are sending our jobs abroad.

You must be talking about that RNC fat cat Larry Ellison of Oracle outsourcing his programming and customer service jobs to india.

[1rudeboy]

C'mon, haven't you priced a 8mm film camera lately?

[Always Right]

Gains in Wages Expected to Give Economy a Lift
New York Times
October 27, 2003

[RiflemanSharpe]

Far less than "no trade" would.


What trade, we give easy access to our market, they highly restrict access to theirs. This kind of free trade is economic suicide.

[RiflemanSharpe]

The point is t5here is no Free trade, nor fair trade for that matter. We're being taken for a ride by China, India and a bunch of other places. But, hey. What the heck? The big contributors of both parties are making a killing. Why should they care?

They are killing off the middle class, that is why I care.

[1rudeboy]

Clearly, the only solution is for the government to prohibit out-sourcing. Maybe it will come-up in the next Five Year Plan.

[Cacique]

From the article you cited.

The wage gains have not been enough to overcome the economy's problems, however. Many families still have less income than they did a year ago because companies have reduced their workers' hours, and health care costs have risen rapid

[hchutch]

Like facts and logic matter to these folks.

It is nothing more than the redistribution of wealth from an unfavored group of people to a favored group of people.

[babble-on]

Bush should revoke the profit motive and mandate that corporations exist for the purpose of providing jobs to people rather than creating wealth. The Europeans understand this, that's why they have protected economies and only 11% unemployment.

[Always Right]

Democrat talking-points? Give credit to Pat Buchanan when it's due.

You mean Buchanan is not a Democrat?....He certainly is not Republican.

[Cacique]

I should have added these boys contribute to both parties.