The Working Poor finally getting some

[danielpalos]

A tight labor market, gives the power to the worker.

So why has it taken three years?

That is heavily addressed in the article.


As have been repeatedly discussed, over the years, the unemployment rate, does not count those who are not looking for a job.


THus, there was a large portion of workers on the sidelines, have been drawn back into the slowly improving job market, thus delaying and slowing wage growth.


The implications are obvious.

wages should outpace inflation on general welfare principle.

 

[hadit]

I don't. I think it is the wrong way to get there, and artificial band aid.


Tighten up the labor market, to give the power to the workers, and wages will rise.

Just pointing out the reasoning in your link

What percentage of the rise was from increased min wage?

Thanks left wingers!

Over 5 million workers will have higher pay on January 1 thanks to state minimum wage increases

On January 1, 2019, 19 states will raise their minimum wages, lifting pay for 5.2 million workers across the country.1 The increases, which range from a $0.05 inflation adjustment in Alaska to a $2.00 per hour increase in New York City, will give affected workers approximately $5.3 billion in increased wages over the course of 2019. Affected workers who work year-round will see their annual pay go up between $90 and $1,300, on average, depending on the size of the minimum wage change in their state.

Which could only be done because workers are in demand right now. Notice they couldn't do it until the economy kicked into high gear. Thanks, Trump.

Blue States have a fifteen dollar an hour goal.

And when the lowest skilled labor is worth that much, they can set it that high.

 

[hadit]

I consider this a wonderful thing, and think we need to do more of what led to these good numbers.

According to your link:

The faster growth at the bottom is probably being fueled in part by recent minimum-wage increases in cities and states across the country.

Here is the actual quote, in context.


"The faster growth at the bottom is probably being fueled in part by recent minimum-wage increases in cities and states across the country. Research from the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal-leaning think tank, found that over the past five years, wages for low-wage workers rose 13 percent in states that raised their minimum wages, compared with 8.4 percent in states that did not.

estimates that the minimum-wage increases account for a quarter to a third of low-wage workers’ gains over the past three years. The rest is most likely a result of a tightening labor market that is forcing employers to raise pay even for workers at the bottom of the earnings ladder."



So, the vast majority of this rise is NOT from the min wage increases that you want to focus on.



Would you rather give power to the workers or to government?

higher wages lead to higher rates of (labor) market participation which can "tighten" the market.

No. Make jobs worth more than the labor costs and wages rise. Make jobs cost more than the labor is worth and wages stagnate or jobs are lost. You can't beat math.

easier said than done. Henry Ford doubled autoworker wages not minimum wages. Not all capitalists are that Good.

I've schooled you on that already. Go back and read what you should have already learned.

 

[Correll]

I've gotten a lot of flak on this site from people who disagreed strongly with that, arguing that automation or some other bs, meant that lower income workers would NEVER be able to get any benefit, and that it was a waste of time to even try for policy to help them.

Policy is not helping them, a tight job market is.

Trump's anti-immigration and trade policies are what made the labor market tight.

What caused the labor market to tighten prior to Trump taking office, considering it has not changed all that much and basically the same percent of the population is working now as was working prior to him taking office

Hasn't changed that much? When was the last time lower income workers saw 4 per cent rise in wages?

I said the labor market, not the wages. Do try and keep up.

Link to support your claim that the same percentage of population is working.

 

[Correll]

Wage growth is very bad news for the investment class, time for a recession.

If we keep the labor market tight, there is no reason to think that this could not become the new underlying trend.

Translation, there needs to be more jobs than job seekers, or, exactly what Trump is doing. A rising economy means more jobs and better paying ones.

But if we leave the gates open, an effectively infinite number of workers are willing to move here, keeping prices down, no matter who much demand rises.

True that. I find it interesting that the same crew that wants basically open borders also complains that wages are too low.

Agreed. Quite odd.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

Policy is not helping them, a tight job market is.

Trump's anti-immigration and trade policies are what made the labor market tight.

What caused the labor market to tighten prior to Trump taking office, considering it has not changed all that much and basically the same percent of the population is working now as was working prior to him taking office

Hasn't changed that much? When was the last time lower income workers saw 4 per cent rise in wages?

I said the labor market, not the wages. Do try and keep up.

Link to support your claim that the same percentage of population is working.

Bureau of Labor Statistics Data

 

[Care4all]

Good article examining why wage growth had been lagging and is finally starting to take off,

AND, especially important, imo, the long ignored working poor are finally, getting the most benefit.


I consider this a wonderful thing, and think we need to do more of what led to these good numbers.

Discuss.


Why Wages Are Finally Rising, 10 Years After the Recession



"Average hourly earnings in April were 3.2 percent higher than a year earlier, the ninth straight month in which growth topped 3 percent, the Labor Department reported Friday.


Other measures diverge on the exact timing and rate of increase, but not on the basic trend: Wage growth, long stuck in neutral, has at last found a higher gear.

“We’ve spent several years going, ‘Where is the wage growth? Where is the wage growth?’” said Martha Gimbel, an economist for the job-search site Indeed. “And it turns out we just had to wait a few years for the labor market to get tighter....”


...The recent gains are going to those who need it most. Over the past year, low-wage workers have experienced the fastest pay increases, a shift from earlier in the recovery, when wage growth was concentrated at the top."

I’m surprised you liked that part about the role of minimum wage increases

I don't. I think it is the wrong way to get there, and artificial band aid.


Tighten up the labor market, to give the power to the workers, and wages will rise.

Just pointing out the reasoning in your link

What percentage of the rise was from increased min wage?

I'm not certain on other states but Maine has gone from minimum wage being $7.50 an hour 4 years ago, and it is now $11 an hour and goes to $12 an hour on Jan 1, 2020.... that's one hell of a hike!

 

[Correll]

Trump's anti-immigration and trade policies are what made the labor market tight.

What caused the labor market to tighten prior to Trump taking office, considering it has not changed all that much and basically the same percent of the population is working now as was working prior to him taking office

Hasn't changed that much? When was the last time lower income workers saw 4 per cent rise in wages?

I said the labor market, not the wages. Do try and keep up.

Link to support your claim that the same percentage of population is working.

Bureau of Labor Statistics Data

View attachment 262693

How do they define civilian labor force?

 

[Correll]

Good article examining why wage growth had been lagging and is finally starting to take off,

AND, especially important, imo, the long ignored working poor are finally, getting the most benefit.


I consider this a wonderful thing, and think we need to do more of what led to these good numbers.

Discuss.


Why Wages Are Finally Rising, 10 Years After the Recession



"Average hourly earnings in April were 3.2 percent higher than a year earlier, the ninth straight month in which growth topped 3 percent, the Labor Department reported Friday.


Other measures diverge on the exact timing and rate of increase, but not on the basic trend: Wage growth, long stuck in neutral, has at last found a higher gear.

“We’ve spent several years going, ‘Where is the wage growth? Where is the wage growth?’” said Martha Gimbel, an economist for the job-search site Indeed. “And it turns out we just had to wait a few years for the labor market to get tighter....”


...The recent gains are going to those who need it most. Over the past year, low-wage workers have experienced the fastest pay increases, a shift from earlier in the recovery, when wage growth was concentrated at the top."

I’m surprised you liked that part about the role of minimum wage increases

I don't. I think it is the wrong way to get there, and artificial band aid.


Tighten up the labor market, to give the power to the workers, and wages will rise.

Just pointing out the reasoning in your link

What percentage of the rise was from increased min wage?

I'm not certain on other states but Maine has gone from minimum wage being $7.50 an hour 4 years ago, and it is now $11 an hour and goes to $12 an hour on Jan 1, 2020.... that's one hell of a hike!

Yet the article claims that at most a fourth of the rise was attributable to increases in the min wage.


So, the hike from the better labor market, is at least three times that hike.


Pretty good news, dont' you agree?


Do you want more of that or less?

 

[Care4all]

I’m surprised you liked that part about the role of minimum wage increases

I don't. I think it is the wrong way to get there, and artificial band aid.


Tighten up the labor market, to give the power to the workers, and wages will rise.

Just pointing out the reasoning in your link

What percentage of the rise was from increased min wage?

I'm not certain on other states but Maine has gone from minimum wage being $7.50 an hour 4 years ago, and it is now $11 an hour and goes to $12 an hour on Jan 1, 2020.... that's one hell of a hike!

Yet the article claims that at most a fourth of the rise was attributable to increases in the min wage.


So, the hike from the better labor market, is at least three times that hike.


Pretty good news, dont' you agree?


Do you want more of that or less?

MORE!

MUCH MORE!

 

[Harpy Eagle]

What caused the labor market to tighten prior to Trump taking office, considering it has not changed all that much and basically the same percent of the population is working now as was working prior to him taking office

Hasn't changed that much? When was the last time lower income workers saw 4 per cent rise in wages?

I said the labor market, not the wages. Do try and keep up.

Link to support your claim that the same percentage of population is working.

Bureau of Labor Statistics Data

View attachment 262693

How do they define civilian labor force?

Anyone over the age of 15, excluding active-duty military personnel, institutionalized individuals, agricultural workers and federal government employees.

 

[Correll]

Hasn't changed that much? When was the last time lower income workers saw 4 per cent rise in wages?

I said the labor market, not the wages. Do try and keep up.

Link to support your claim that the same percentage of population is working.

Bureau of Labor Statistics Data

View attachment 262693

How do they define civilian labor force?

Anyone over the age of 15, excluding active-duty military personnel, institutionalized individuals, agricultural workers and federal government employees.

Illegals?

 

[Stormy Daniels]

That is heavily addressed in the article.

The article isn't making the claim that "a tight labor market gives the power to the worker". And it does nothing to sustain such a claim. If your assertion is true, then you must explain why it has taken three years of a "tight labor market" for the alleged power to finally manifest.

 

[Correll]

That is heavily addressed in the article.

The article isn't making the claim that "a tight labor market gives the power to the worker". And it does nothing to sustain such a claim. If your assertion is true, then you must explain why it has taken three years of a "tight labor market" for the alleged power to finally manifest.

From the article. As I already mentioned.


"The recent uptick in wage growth suggests a simpler explanation: Perhaps the job market wasn’t as good as the unemployment rate made it look.

The government’s official definition of unemployment is relatively narrow. It counts only people actively looking for work, which means it leaves out many students, stay-at-home parents or others who might like jobs if they were available. If employers have been tapping into that broader pool of potential labor, it could help explain why they haven’t been forced to raise wages faster.

It appears as if that is exactly what is happening. In recent months, more than 70 percent of people getting jobs had not been counted as unemployed the previous month. That is well above historical levels, and a sign that the strong labor market is drawing people off the sidelines.

"You look at those people who do not want a job, people who were out of the labor market due to disability, all of those people are coming back in,” said Adam Ozimek, an economist who has studied the issue.


Several years ago, Mr. Ozimek discovered that with a broader definition of unemployment — lacking a job, for any reason, while in one’s prime working years — wage growth had been in line with historical expectations throughout the recovery. That relationship has held up as the job market has improved. "

 

[Stormy Daniels]

That is heavily addressed in the article.

The article isn't making the claim that "a tight labor market gives the power to the worker". And it does nothing to sustain such a claim. If your assertion is true, then you must explain why it has taken three years of a "tight labor market" for the alleged power to finally manifest.

From the article. As I already mentioned.


"The recent uptick in wage growth suggests a simpler explanation: Perhaps the job market wasn’t as good as the unemployment rate made it look.

The government’s official definition of unemployment is relatively narrow. It counts only people actively looking for work, which means it leaves out many students, stay-at-home parents or others who might like jobs if they were available. If employers have been tapping into that broader pool of potential labor, it could help explain why they haven’t been forced to raise wages faster.

It appears as if that is exactly what is happening. In recent months, more than 70 percent of people getting jobs had not been counted as unemployed the previous month. That is well above historical levels, and a sign that the strong labor market is drawing people off the sidelines.

"You look at those people who do not want a job, people who were out of the labor market due to disability, all of those people are coming back in,” said Adam Ozimek, an economist who has studied the issue.


Several years ago, Mr. Ozimek discovered that with a broader definition of unemployment — lacking a job, for any reason, while in one’s prime working years — wage growth had been in line with historical expectations throughout the recovery. That relationship has held up as the job market has improved. "

Yeah, who cares? You are making a great many assumptions, and expect everyone else to simply make (and accept) the same assumptions, while ignoring facts in plain sight.

 

[Correll]

That is heavily addressed in the article.

The article isn't making the claim that "a tight labor market gives the power to the worker". And it does nothing to sustain such a claim. If your assertion is true, then you must explain why it has taken three years of a "tight labor market" for the alleged power to finally manifest.

From the article. As I already mentioned.


"The recent uptick in wage growth suggests a simpler explanation: Perhaps the job market wasn’t as good as the unemployment rate made it look.

The government’s official definition of unemployment is relatively narrow. It counts only people actively looking for work, which means it leaves out many students, stay-at-home parents or others who might like jobs if they were available. If employers have been tapping into that broader pool of potential labor, it could help explain why they haven’t been forced to raise wages faster.

It appears as if that is exactly what is happening. In recent months, more than 70 percent of people getting jobs had not been counted as unemployed the previous month. That is well above historical levels, and a sign that the strong labor market is drawing people off the sidelines.

"You look at those people who do not want a job, people who were out of the labor market due to disability, all of those people are coming back in,” said Adam Ozimek, an economist who has studied the issue.


Several years ago, Mr. Ozimek discovered that with a broader definition of unemployment — lacking a job, for any reason, while in one’s prime working years — wage growth had been in line with historical expectations throughout the recovery. That relationship has held up as the job market has improved. "

Yeah, who cares? You are making a great many assumptions, and expect everyone else to simply make (and accept) the same assumptions, while ignoring facts in plain sight.

Err, what? I quoted the article.


Also, Err, what assumptions do you think the quote made? What facts are in plane sight that you think it asks you to ignore?

 

[Moonglow]

Wages went up to a level for people living twenty years ago.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

I said the labor market, not the wages. Do try and keep up.

Link to support your claim that the same percentage of population is working.

Bureau of Labor Statistics Data

View attachment 262693

How do they define civilian labor force?

Anyone over the age of 15, excluding active-duty military personnel, institutionalized individuals, agricultural workers and federal government employees.

Illegals?

Of course not.

 

[Correll]

Wages went up to a level for people living twenty years ago.

4 % raise for the working poor this last year. You would be happier if they did not get it?

 

[Correll]

Link to support your claim that the same percentage of population is working.

Bureau of Labor Statistics Data

View attachment 262693

How do they define civilian labor force?

Anyone over the age of 15, excluding active-duty military personnel, institutionalized individuals, agricultural workers and federal government employees.

Illegals?

Of course not.

So, if Trump's deportations were having a serious impact, in tightening the labor market, that would not be reflected?