Middle-class families have lost jobs, homes and savings for their children's education or their own retirement as a consequence of the Great Recession. But for many the problem started a long time ago. Over the past 30 years, 34.6% of all income growth went to the top one-tenth of 1% of all earners. The bottom 90% has collectively gotten only 15.9% of all income growth over the same period. The recession has made that situation worse. In fact, according to a just-released poll commissioned by the union-backed worker-advocacy organization Change to Win, the recession problem affecting the largest number of Americans – worse than actual job loss – has been "declining or stagnating wages."
Three-fourths of those surveyed by Hart Research Associates said they themselves or someone they know has been hurt by wages that lag behind the cost of living. Sixty-eight percent said they or someone they know has seen their wages cut.
“This survey reinforces what the economic data have been screaming out for more than a generation: A hard-day’s work in America simply doesn’t pay what it used to – unless you’re a corporate executive, and then you’re getting paid more than you’re worth,” said Tom Woodruff, Director of the Strategic Organizing Center for Change to Win. “To cure what ails our economy we need to create not just jobs, but jobs at good wages. We can start by using the power of the purse. Let’s look at how the federal government can promote higher wages, leveraging the $500 billion in federal contracts it awards to private employers every year. ... For 30 years, Americans have been working harder than ever, but their pay, in real terms, has hardly budged,” Woodruff said. “So where has all that money gone? To massive Wall St. bonuses and CEO salaries.”
Among the survey's other findings:
• Delayed or canceled medical treatment because of cost, 27 percent. Know somebody who did this, 50 percent.
• More women (71 percent) than men (65 percent) say they have been affected by reduced wages or hours.
• Nearly half (47 percent) of voters say they, a family member, or someone they know well has fallen behind on mortgage payments or rent in the past few months.
• Among Republicans, 96 percent say they are dissatisfied with the economic state of affairs, including 77 percent who are very dissatisfied (only 4 percent are satisfied). Among Democrats, 19 percent are satisfied and 79 percent dissatisfied, with 39 percent of those very dissatisified.
• More than three in five (62 percent) non-college graduates say they are having challenging/difficult times, while their college-educated peers are split 49 percent good times and 49 percent challenging/difficult times.
• A little more than half (53 percent) of whites express having a hard time personally, while minority voters say they are having a much harder time. Two-thirds (66 percent percent of African Americans say they are having a challenging or difficult time, with a quarter (26% percent saying they are having difficult times. Latinos report even greater struggles, as 71 percent say they are struggling, including 35 percent saying they are having difficult times.
Given what's now clear to all but the most optimistic analysts, without a major redirection of government policy, unemployment will remain high for years, and that means a continuation of the suppression of wage growth.
The American Prospect has devoted its entire October magazine to what should be done about the job situation, including the problem presented by wage stagnation, with articles about the sweatshop operations now contracted to feed U.S. troops and the difficulties associated with American workers' loss of bargaining power.
One of those articles, written by Ann O'Leary, executive director of the Berkeley Center on health, Economic & Family Security at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, argues for more executive orders from the President:
The Obama administration is considering a proposal to use the president's authority under the Procurement Act to promote "high road" contracting. Variants of the proposal have been put forward by the Center for American Progress and the National Employment Law Project with support from the Change to Win labor federation and the Service Employees International Union. ...
This proposal could have a real impact on low-wage workers. It would mean that more workers would be protected by existing laws -- from employee -- classification laws to wage and hour laws to the Family and Medical Leave Act. It would also mean that low-wage workers, who currently have the least access to paid sick days and by definition the lowest-wages, could benefit from the incentives provided to contractors to offer living wages and paid sick days.
That's just one of many actions needed to begin healing the wounds resulting from the economic battering imposed on workers over the past 35 years.