cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/15086405
Bureau of Labor Statistics releases latest estimate of how much labor receives of national income, showing bleak decline
When Jesse Motte began working at a Starbucks inside a Target store in Columbia, South Carolina, more than two years ago, $15 an hour sounded great. He was excited to start because it was the most he had ever made after working for years in the service industry.
The excitement has dissipated due to his inconsistent and erratic work schedule, the rising costs of necessities and the minuscule raises he and his co-workers receive annually. His most recent annual wage increase was $0.37 an hour.
Motte is not alone. This week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its latest estimate for the share labor receives of national income for the first quarter of 2024. The statistics shows the income workers receive compared to the productivity their labor generates.
According to BLS, this income share has declined for non-farm workers from around two-thirds, 64.1% in the first quarter of 2001, to 55.8% in the first quarter of 2024.
People were talking about it during Reagan’s Presidency.
There were giant homeless encampments in all major cities throughout the 1980s.
Read Hunter Thompson’s book “Hell’s Angels.” There’s a chapter that talks about the economics of being a biker/hippie/artist circa 1970. A part time waitress in New York could afford to support herself and her musician boyfreind. A biker could put in six months as a Union stevedore and make enough to hit the road for two years of carousing.
And the idea that Obama caused the melt down of 2008 is pretty hilarious.