
Current data on jobs and wages show why workers rightly feel they are
being left out of the economic recovery. Unemployment is at a quarter
century high and the Congressional Budget Office predicts that unless
stronger actions are taken, unemployment will remain above 10% in 2010,
9% in 2011, and 7% in 2012. This means that between 15 to 20% of the
nation's human capital will remain unemployed, underemployed, or out of
the labor force for the next three years -- clearly an unacceptable
outcome that will further delay and weaken economic recovery. The wage
data are equally unacceptable. Average worker incomes have been flat or
fell during the recession. Nor did they grow over the seven years of
the past economic recovery. Indeed, workers have been getting a
declining share of the productivity they helped create (most of it went
to those in the top one percent of the income distribution) for the
past three decades. Unless more direct action is taken, the earning
power of existing and new jobs will remain stuck at the same levels
they have been at for many years. Given that consumption accounts for
70% of the economy, a wage-less recovery translates to a weak and
unsustainable recovery. (
read more at Huffington Post)