Eye rolling time
I realize that most economic news makes peoples eyes roll back in their heads (and not in that good way, either…), but here’s more:
Inflation has outpaced the rise in salaries for the first time in 14 years. And workers are paying a bigger share of the cost of their healthcare.
04/11/05 “Los Angeles Times” – – For the first time in 14 years, the American workforce has in effect gotten an across-the-board pay cut.
The growth in wages in 2004 and the first two months of this year trailed inflation, compounding the squeeze from higher housing, energy and other costs.
The result is that people like Victor Romero are finding themselves falling behind.
The 49-year-old film-set laborer had to ditch his $1,100-a-month Hollywood apartment because his rent kept rising while his pay of $24.50 an hour stayed flat.
“There’s no such thing as raises anymore,” Romero said.
This is the first time that salaries have increased more slowly than prices since the 1990-91 recession. Though salary growth has been relatively sluggish since the 2001 downturn, inflation also had stayed relatively subdued until last year, when the consumer price index rose 2.7%. But wages rose only 2.5%.</i>
Of course, if you’re one of those folks who received say, a 20k tax cut, then you probably haven’t noticed this occuring.
