Our Changing Globe

Archive for the ‘labor department’ Category

GETTING PAID Weekly wages for private workers after adjusting for inflation: Year Change 2000 -0.4% 2001 +1.5% 2002 +0.2% 2003 -0.7% 2004 -0.2% 2005 -0.4% 2006 +2.2% 2007 -1.2% 2008 +2.4% 2009 -1.4% Note: 2009 figure through September Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

The prolonged recession combined with low inflation continue to the drag down the wages of millions of Americans, and to effectively freeze the benefits of millions of retirees too. Figures based on the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics report suggest that average weekly wages after adjusting for inflation have fallen by 1.4% this year for private-sector workers through September to $616.11. The bureau’s data cover 82% of private-sector workers and if the present trend continues, it will mark the biggest annual decline in real wages since 1991. * Managers and some higher-paid professionals were no included in the report. The main reason for the fall in weekly wages is that employees are now working and average of just 30 hours per week which is the least since tracking began in 1964 and what makes the news even grimmer, is that average hourly wages have declined by .5% this year to $18.67 an hour in September. Ten states link minimum wages to inflation, and Colorado announced this week that it will become the first state to lower its minimum wage since the federal minimum wage law was passed in 1938. Wages are usually the last thing to deteriorate in a recession, and the fact that it’s happening means that they’re not likely to increase at any time in the near future.

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A just released report by the Commerce Department shows that retail sales unexpectedly dropped by 0.4% in April, following a revised drop of 1.3% in March and analysts contributed the drop to the biggest loss of household wealth on record, falling home values and rising unemployment.

Most economists had predicted that retail sales would rise by 0.2% after a 1% decrease a month earlier.

Bill Cheney, who is the chief economist at John Hancock Financial Services Inc. said in an interview that, “The second quarter is going to be tough. Consumers are losing their jobs, concerned about losing their jobs and losing wealth”.

Mike Niemira who is the chief economist at ICSC was a little bit less downbeat and said, “We’re still working our way through the slowdown. I think it will get better as the year progresses. The month of May will still be tough and I suspect by the summer that things will be a little broader in terms of the improvement”.

The decline in sales was led by falling demand at furniture, clothing, grocery and electronics’ stores, and even as fuel prices rose, receipts at service stations fell, indicating perhaps that Americans were driving less.

Clothing sales fell by 0.5% and sales at general-merchandise stores fell by 0.1%.

Auto sales unexpectedly gained by 0.2% after dropping by 2% in March, with automobiles selling at a 9.3 million annual pace in April, compared with a 9.9 million rate in March.

Chrysler, whose U.S. whose sales were down by 48% from the same month last year, started offering rebates of up to $6,000 on May 6 and the offers will continue until the end of the month.

The Labor Department reported last week that payrolls fell by 539,000 workers last month making it the smallest drop since October, but it took the unemployment rate to 8.9%, which is the highest level since 1983 and economists expect it to average 9.6% in 2010.

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