Only 24.6 Percent Of All Jobs In The United States Are Good Jobs

[Brave7]

Do you want to know why it seems like good jobs are very rare in the United States today? It is because good jobs are very rare in the United States today. According to a paper that was just released by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, only 24.6 percent of all American jobs qualified as "good jobs" in 2010. Over the past several decades, there has been increasing pressure on corporations to reduce expenses and increase corporate profits. One of the biggest expenses that any corporation faces is labor.

Large corporations all over the globe are in an endless race to gain a competitive advantage by pushing labor costs as low as possible. Sometimes this is done by using technology. Computers, automation, robotics and other forms of technology have eliminated millions of jobs in the United States and those jobs are never coming back. Millions of other jobs have been eliminated by offshoring. In our globalized economy, American workers have been merged into one giant labor pool with everyone else. That makes it very tempting for big corporations to move jobs from areas where workers are very expensive (such as the United States) to areas of the world where it is legal to pay slave labor wages.

When big corporations do this, corporate profits go up, but the number of good jobs in the United States goes down. As a result, there is increased competition for the jobs that remain in the United States and this drives down wages. Meanwhile, the cost of living just keeps going up. So millions of American families have fallen into poverty in recent years, and millions of others have gone deep into debt in an attempt to survive. This dynamic is absolutely shredding the middle class in the United States.

So how exactly did the authors of the paper mentioned above come to the conclusion that only 24.6 percent of all jobs in the United States are good jobs?

Well, they had three criteria for what a "good job" is....

#1 The job must pay at least $18.50 an hour. According to the authors, that is the equivalent of the median hourly pay for American workers back in 1979 after you adjust for inflation.

#2 The job must provide access to employer-sponsored health insurance, and the employer must pay at least some portion of the cost of that insurance.

#3 The job must provide access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan.

Using those criteria, the authors of the study found that only 24.6 percent of all jobs in the United States are good jobs.

So why are there so few good jobs in this country?

Is it because we aren't educated enough?

http://endoftheamericandream.com/arc...-are-good-jobs

Do you think that only 24.6 percent of good jobs are in the United States? What implication it will have in our economy?

[ScriptMan]

I am actually surprised that the number is that high post NAFDA. In fact I betting there is some scew to those numbers.

Why you ask? Because the politicians sold out to the corporations with NAFDA and other legislation.

[Brave7]

What does the acronym mean?

Thanks Scriptman

[ScriptMan]

Originally Posted by Natural Elements

What does the acronym mean?

Thanks Scriptman

D**** that is a typo NAFTA, North American Free Trade Act

Edit: The posted one would be what I really call it and we will leave it at that.

[Brave7]

If it was only to NAFTA that the politicians sold out to the corporations, unfortunately they put us in a global pool where people are paid 50 cents an hour, this isn't competition, this is an economic genocide.

[dWhite]

Hell, just having a job would be a good job.

[ScriptMan]

Originally Posted by dWhite

Hell, just having a job would be a good job.

I got an ax and some firewood that needs splitting. Are you interested?

[Brave7]

Originally Posted by ScriptMan

I got an ax and some firewood that needs splitting. Are you interested?

It should be fun and great for exercice

[dWhite]

Originally Posted by ScriptMan

I got an ax and some firewood that needs splitting. Are you interested?

Sure am! When do I start?

[ScriptMan]

You two really surprised me. When I made the same offer to a guy on the side of the road who was holding a "will work for food" sign, he said something ugly and added "just get with the program and give me $5."

[billzo]

Originally Posted by Natural Elements

http://endoftheamericandream.com/arc...-are-good-jobs

Do you think that only 24.6 percent of good jobs are in the United States? What implication it will have in our economy?

Well, they had three criteria for what a "good job" is....

#1 The job must pay at least $18.50 an hour. According to the authors, that is the equivalent of the median hourly pay for American workers back in 1979 after you adjust for inflation.

#2 The job must provide access to employer-sponsored health insurance, and the employer must pay at least some portion of the cost of that insurance.

#3 The job must provide access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan.

Basically, in order to be considered a "good" job by this group it must make the employer an extension of the welfare state.

Pensions for life are disappearing for a reason: it is impossible to accurately forecast how long people will live and how much pensions will cost. Also, if you factor in the cost of pensions and retirement health insurance, the cost of having an employee almost doubles. Is it reasonable to pay someone working an an automobile assembly line the equivalent of $60 an hour for wages, benefits, and estimated retirement expenses?

The cost for a rookie police officer including wage, benefits, insurance, and pension is $100,000 a year where I live. Based on 2,000 working hours a year, that cost is about $50 an hour. And that's based on the assumption that the pension is fully funded, which we won't know for 40 years or more!

[billzo]

Originally Posted by Natural Elements

If it was only to NAFTA that the politicians sold out to the corporations, unfortunately they put us in a global pool where people are paid 50 cents an hour, this isn't competition, this is an economic genocide.

And are you forgetting about the impact of taxes driving up the cost of doing business?

If an American web designer wants to clear $25 an hour after taxes (which isn't that much considering they may not have business to keep them busy for 40 hours a week in this bad economy), they have to charge $50 an hour to their clients.

15.3% Social Security and Medicare self-employment tax
+
28% - 35% Federal taxes
+
8% state tax where I live
==============================
= 45% - 50% of your income taken away

= High cost of doing business

= Reduced competitiveness with foreign competitors working in lower taxed countries regardless of labor expenses

[ScriptMan]

Originally Posted by billzo

And that's based on the assumption that the pension is fully funded, which we won't know for 40 years or more!

Personally, I don't read 'employer sponsored' as fully employer funded. As a matter of fact I really don't know of any that currently are other than government jobs. My wife works for a government agency of sorts and the employer contribution is capped at a matched up to 4% maximum. She on the other hand can contribute as much as she can afford. Have you not heard of a 401K?

[Brave7]

Originally Posted by billzo

Reduced competitiveness with foreign competitors working in lower taxed countries regardless of labor expenses

I think this resumed the whole story: "competitiveness with foreign competitors".

Like I said: "the politicians sold out to the corporations, unfortunately they put us in a global pool where people are paid 50 cents an hour, this isn't competition, this is an economic genocide."

There is absolutely no competition with people which are paid slave wage of 50 cents an hour in other countries and most of these countries do not have regulations that protect the workers, environement and health of people. This is like comparing apples and oranges.

This whole job transfer is just a great way to ignite a revolution because politicians failed to regulate all the jobs shipped overseas and the consequences of that will destroy our societies in long term.

An interesting article to read:
Exporting America: Why Corporate Greed Is Shipping American Jobs Overseas

http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/studi...ipts/5054.html