By: Nicole Nelson
Surprisingly, wages for workers have actually increased over the past year. It was thought that hourly wages might actually start to fall, but according to government surveys, wage growth has actually increased over the past months. During the past month, average weekly pay rose from $612 to $618. Again, this is surprising because the unemployment rate is higher now than it has been in over twenty six years. Although unemployment is so high, Leondhart states that the recession has been very concentrated and what and who it is effecting. He also states that if you haven’t lost your job by now, you are safer than you were a couple months ago. He figures that the employment rate is so high that its unlikely that it could get any higher. Another interesting fact is that prices have fallen about two percent while average weekly pay has remained constant or risen.
The most interesting fact about the entire raise in weekly pay is that it is very similar to what happened in the Great Depression. Because of deflation during the Great Depression, if you had a job you were actually living pretty comfortably. Similar to now, since prices are falling but if you have a job your pay is not on the same scale, you too are living “comfortably”.
References:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/16/business/economy/16leonhardt.html
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/16/reader-responses-sticky-wages/
I think this is a very interesting fact. You really wouldn't expect that with the recession now, salaries would increase. Maybe companies are trying to give their employees more money to put into the economy to help out!- Kelsey Hoffman
ReplyDeleteI find this to be interesting because normally people would think due to the recession corporations wouldn't increase salaries, but I guess they are trying to help their current employees live "comfortably" in the recession.
ReplyDeletePosted by Lily Mei