newjerseynewsroom.com

BY JOE TYRRELL

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

As another Labor Day rolls around, poor economic conditions and hostile policies are continuing to batter American working people, according to a new study by Rutgers University.

The third annual Labor Scorecard compiled by Rutgers' School of Management and Labor Relations found that American workers "are significantly worse off on most measures than they were a decade ago."

That trend has only strengthened during the Wall Street meltdown and subsequent bailout and recession, according to recent data.

The August 2010 unemployment rate, 9.6 percent, was roughly 2½ times that of August 2004 — and those are the prettified numbers. When underemployed and marginally working people are included, the rate rises to 16.7 percent, only one-tenth of a point lower than a year ago in the putative depths of the recession.

"It's quite striking that more than one-third of the unemployed have been out of work for at least six months," said David Finegold, the school's dean, in a press release announcing the findings. "That suggests this will be a long-term problem to solve."

There has been some good news in the past year, such as a 50 percent drop in the number of mass extended corporate layoffs to 650,000 people. But even that is roughly 60 percent more than the figure from 2000, apparent good times for many sectors of the economy.

Many American companies are sitting on these earnings, or investing them in foreign facilities, according to former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. On his blog, Reich reported the country's 500 largest non-financial firms held almost $1 trillion during the second quarter.

But General Motors, still largely owned by American taxpayers, has cut its U.S. workforce to just 52,000 people, down 416,000 in four decades as it closed plants here. In contrast, the company recently broke ground on a $250 million advanced technology center in China, providing "green" jobs developing batteries and other alternative energy sources.

Reich noted that in the first half of this year, Ford racked up two-thirds of its all-time revenue record, set in 1999. But since then, the company has eliminated half of its American jobs, he said.

The reluctance of American companies to invest in the United States shows up in other ways. In real terms, American wages peaked in 1972.

Rutgers Professor Douglas Kruse, principal investigator found median weekly salary and wages have actually dropped by $4 over the past year, to $744. Meanwhile, those people "fortunate enough to be covered by their companies health insurance plans' are contributing more for coverage without offsetting salary increases.

Since 2000, average employee insurance contributions have increased to $3,515 from $2,017 for family coverage, and to $779 from $416 for single coverage, according to the study.

While rising health insurance costs often are described as increased benefits for employees, only in some circumstances do workers actually see that in the form of direct payments or improved coverage. In general, the system functions as a tax imposed by insurers on other businesses.

"Even at a time when corporate profits are increasing, there is little gain being shared with the workforce," Kruse said. "Workers clearly are being asked to share more of the cost of the benefits."

The Rutgers study highlighted continued pay gaps by gender and race. Women earn 83 percent of men's wages, blacks make 80.3 percent as much as whites, and Hispanics' wages declined sharply to only 70 percent as much as whites, according to the study.

Again, there were some positive spots. Full-time disabled workers continue to earn less than others, but the gap was narrowing significantly, at least according to the latest data from before the full force of the recession hit.

Reflecting the economic climate, workers are being more frugal. Households managed to slightly lower their debt payments as a percentage of income, to 12.5 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to the Rutgers findings.

Joe Tyrrell may be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it