Enceladus
2003-09-02 15:12:00 UTC
Looks Like a Recovery, Feels Like a Recession
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
ven though the recession ended nearly two years ago, polls show that
American workers are feeling stressed and shaky this Labor Day because the
nation continues to register month after month of job losses and wages are
rising more slowly than inflation.
One factor above all has fueled the insecurity: the nation has lost 2.7
million jobs over the last three years. The recovery has been so weak since
the recession ended in November 2001 that the nation's payrolls are down one
million jobs from when economic growth resumed.
Indeed, the current economic expansion is the worst on record in terms of
job growth. The average length of unemployment, more than 19 weeks, spiked
this summer to its highest level in two decades.
"American workers are doing very badly," said Carl Van Horn, director of the
Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. "All the
trends are in the negative direction. There's high turnover, high
instability, a reduction in benefits and a declining loyalty on the part of
employers. At the same time, expectations for productivity and quality are
going up. It's a bad situation from a worker's standpoint."
In August, a Gallup poll found that 81 percent of Americans thought now was
a bad time to find a quality job, tying March for the highest percentage
since Gallup began regularly asking the question two years ago.
A new survey by the University of Michigan found that while workers were
showing somewhat less fear about unemployment, they were voicing concern
that their wage increases were shrinking.
"Most workers expect the economy to improve, but at the same time they don't
expect to have their income or their wages increase," said Richard Curtin,
director of surveys at the University of Michigan. "It's a very untypical
environment."
Weekly earnings for all private-sector workers, after accounting for
inflation, have slid for the last seven months, down two-tenths of one
percent so far this year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported. A new
study by the Economic Policy Institute, a research group financed by
foundations and labor unions, found that hourly after-inflation wages had
slipped across the board for most workers.
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By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
ven though the recession ended nearly two years ago, polls show that
American workers are feeling stressed and shaky this Labor Day because the
nation continues to register month after month of job losses and wages are
rising more slowly than inflation.
One factor above all has fueled the insecurity: the nation has lost 2.7
million jobs over the last three years. The recovery has been so weak since
the recession ended in November 2001 that the nation's payrolls are down one
million jobs from when economic growth resumed.
Indeed, the current economic expansion is the worst on record in terms of
job growth. The average length of unemployment, more than 19 weeks, spiked
this summer to its highest level in two decades.
"American workers are doing very badly," said Carl Van Horn, director of the
Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University. "All the
trends are in the negative direction. There's high turnover, high
instability, a reduction in benefits and a declining loyalty on the part of
employers. At the same time, expectations for productivity and quality are
going up. It's a bad situation from a worker's standpoint."
In August, a Gallup poll found that 81 percent of Americans thought now was
a bad time to find a quality job, tying March for the highest percentage
since Gallup began regularly asking the question two years ago.
A new survey by the University of Michigan found that while workers were
showing somewhat less fear about unemployment, they were voicing concern
that their wage increases were shrinking.
"Most workers expect the economy to improve, but at the same time they don't
expect to have their income or their wages increase," said Richard Curtin,
director of surveys at the University of Michigan. "It's a very untypical
environment."
Weekly earnings for all private-sector workers, after accounting for
inflation, have slid for the last seven months, down two-tenths of one
percent so far this year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported. A new
study by the Economic Policy Institute, a research group financed by
foundations and labor unions, found that hourly after-inflation wages had
slipped across the board for most workers.
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`
end