World News Insights
1-3 Minute Gist

All Topics Article

Analysis | Is it great to be a worker in the U.S.? Not compared with the rest of the developed world.

Washington Post Original article ›
LyrArc Article Gist
Van Dam says its not that great being a worker in the U.S. because it is hard for the unemployed resulting from competing with workers in other countries with lower wages, and for those who are unemployed harder because worker collective bargaining is weakened over 3 decades. He cites a 296 page OECD report showing very little government support for unemployed and at risk American workers. It says this has contributed to higher income inequality and larger share of lower income people than almost any other advanced a nation. Only Spain and Greece are shown as having more households earning less than half the median income- showing large numbers of people are poor or close to being poor. In the U.S. an average of 1 in 5 lose their jobs each year, and 23% of workers 15 to 64 are in their job less than a year in 2016. The job churn hurts workers because of firing and layoffs being frequent, more than is healthy for a economy. The U.S. and Mexico are the only two countries not requiring advance notice before firings. And fewer than half of workers find a job within a year in the U.S. Two in three families with a displaced worker fall in poverty for some time. Unemployed workers with typically 26 weeks support get less support than any other country in the study. Only 12% of workers in U.S. are covered by collective bargaining.


The changing demographics of minimum wage workers in the U.S. in 2014-2015

06/09/2014

Not just young people take minimum wage jobs as more people can only get part time low paying jobs following the 2008-2009 financial crisis.

Grouped Articles

Minimum Wage: Who Makes It?

New York Times 06/09/2014

A part-timer boom, or blip? - The Washington Post

Washington Post 07/16/2014

A Growing Economic Recovery Bypasses Low-Wage Workers and Their Tables

New York Times 12/14/2014

States’ Minimum Wages Rise, Helping Millions of Workers

New York Times 12/31/2014

Australia Weighs Whether Its Minimum Wage Is Too High

Wall Street Journal 01/26/2015

After a Bounce, Wage Growth Slumps to 0.1%

New York Times 03/06/2015

The other roots of increasing inequality in the U.S.- global competition and sourcing, the case of the U.S. auto industry and manufacturing workers

03/24/2015

Auto parts imports into the U.S. from Mexico have increased by 86% since 2008, more than doubled for China. As wages rise in China, India is the next source country for low cost automobile parts from auto industry hubs in Gujarat and Tamilnadu, placing continuous downward pressure on manufacturing wages for the next decade, and the next. Parts imports were $32 billion in 1990, $138 billion in 2014. Workers in manufacturing make as low as $10 an hour today, similar to workers at Wal-Mart. An entire generation of manufacturing workers are now shifted from middle class to lower class from their parents generation to their own, reducing educational mobility in the American system and fewer opportunities for improvement. As more jobs are created in manufacturing than in IT related industries this is a significant hurdle for improving wages and employment in the U.S.

Grouped Articles

U.S. Car-Making Boom? Not for Auto-Industry Workers

Wall Street Journal 03/24/2015

Income Inequality Is Costing the U.S. on Social Issues

New York Times 04/28/2015

Economic-Ladder Concerns Trump Income Gap in Poll

Wall Street Journal 05/05/2015

Sanders, Corbyn and the coming debate inside the Democratic Party - The Washington Post

Washington Post 09/13/2015

U.A.W. Contract With Fiat Chrysler Would Give 2nd-Tier Workers Big Raise

New York Times 09/18/2015

A stunning stat about pay seems impossible but actually is true - The Washington Post

Washington Post 09/22/2015

The disarray in the Democratic Party in 2015 over trade agreements, worker wages, and increasing inequality during two terms of the Obama administration

06/12/2015

Grouped Articles

Washington Dysfunction, With a Twist: Democrats Desert Their President

New York Times 06/12/2015

Obama Bolsters His Leverage With Trade Victory, but at a Cost

New York Times 06/24/2015

The CNN Democratic debate transcript, annotated - The Washington Post

Washington Post 10/14/2015

Obama Accuses Trump of Exploiting Working-Class Fears

New York Times 12/21/2015

Bernie Sanders: Democrats Need to Wake Up

The New York Times 06/28/2016

What the New GOP Means for Wall Street

WSJ 07/19/2016

Temporary workers in the U.S.

02/24/2011

Grouped Articles

Amazon Wage Dispute Spreads Beyond Germany

Wall Street Journal 12/17/2013

The Rise of the Permanent Temp Economy

New York Times 01/26/2013

A U.S. Recovery Built on Low-Paying Jobs

BusinessWeek 02/24/2011

Analysis | Is it great to be a worker in the U.S.? Not compared with the rest of the developed world.

Washington Post 07/04/2018

The Autor, Dorn, Hanson studies on how trade policies hurt American workers

04/07/2011

Grouped Articles

Tallying the Toll of U.S.-China Trade

Wall Street Journal 09/27/2011

Cities Adapt With Mixed Results

Wall Street Journal 09/27/2011

This one anecdote perfectly explains how Donald Trump is hijacking the GOP - The Washington Post

Washington Post 03/28/2016

The Hidden Job Crisis for American Men

BusinessWeek 04/07/2011

What’s Our Duty to the People Globalization Leaves Behind?

New York Times 01/26/2016

Pacific Trade Deal Likely to Have Narrow Reach

Wall Street Journal 08/01/2015

Workers in U.S. manufacturing plants in 2015- global competition, U.S. competitiveness and downward pressure on wages

03/24/2015

Workers who were once in the middle class are now lower class as conditions have changed in the automobile and other U.S. manufacturing plants. As more jobs are created in manufacturing than in IT related industries, this is a significant factor in improving U.S. employment and wages. There is an 86% increase in imports of parts from Mexico since 2008, over double for China.

Grouped Articles

U.S. Car-Making Boom? Not for Auto-Industry Workers

Wall Street Journal 03/24/2015

U.S. Trade Gap Widens on Surging Imports

Wall Street Journal 05/06/2015

Dollar’s Rise Lifts Imports and Widens Trade Gap

New York Times 05/05/2015

Mexican Auto Production Sets Record in April

Wall Street Journal 05/07/2015

U.A.W. Contract With Fiat Chrysler Would Give 2nd-Tier Workers Big Raise

New York Times 09/18/2015

A stunning stat about pay seems impossible but actually is true - The Washington Post

Washington Post 09/22/2015

Employees and wages at Apple's retail stores

05/29/2010

About 30,000 of the 43,000 employees at Apple's U.S. operations are hourly workers. Most are in their early twenties paid about $12 an hour with health care benefits. Their is no career path for most workers and most leave after a couple of years for other work.

Grouped Articles

Hon Hai to Raise Workers' Pay

Wall Street Journal 05/29/2010

In U.S., a Cheaper Labor Pool

Wall Street Journal 01/06/2012

Recovery Has Created Far More Low-Wage Jobs Than Better-Paid Ones

New York Times 04/27/2014

Apple Says App Store Sales Rose 50% in 2014

Wall Street Journal 01/09/2015

Sluggish Productivity Hampers Wage Gains

Wall Street Journal 03/07/2015

The New Jobs Report Shows Janet Yellen’s Quandary in a Nutshell

New York Times 03/06/2015

Faces of men who are unemployed or in part time work in the U.S. as one sixth of men 25-54 lack jobs in 2014

02/07/2012

The sharp decline in inflation adjusted wages for less skilled workers since 2000 and lack of decent paying jobs has led to many men too discouraged to look for work, and dependent on a spouse's income or government benefits. This is unlike any other post 1950's economic recovery in the U.S.

Grouped Articles

More Men in Prime Working Ages Don't Have Jobs

Wall Street Journal 02/06/2014

Bayer: Pressure on Prices Has Bad Side Effects

Wall Street Journal 02/07/2012

The White Underclass

New York Times 02/08/2012

Hiring Rises, but Number of Jobless Stays High

New York Times 04/04/2014

Recovery Has Created Far More Low-Wage Jobs Than Better-Paid Ones

New York Times 04/27/2014

A part-timer boom, or blip? - The Washington Post

Washington Post 07/16/2014

Migrant workers in the U.S.

02/03/2009

Grouped Articles

China's Migrants See Jobless Ranks Soar

Wall Street Journal 02/03/2009

Aware of Its Dependence, Napa Takes Care of Migrant Workers

New York Times 05/26/2011

In China, Families Bet It All on a Child in College

New York Times 02/16/2013

Analysis | Is it great to be a worker in the U.S.? Not compared with the rest of the developed world.

Washington Post 07/04/2018

The U.S. unemployment picture September 2014- Underemployment U-6 at 11.8%, unemployment at 5.9%, and labor participation rate at 62.7%

10/04/2014

9.3 millon workers looking for fulltime work and decline in the labor participation rate reflected the true condition of labor market in the U.S., with wages dropping a penny, in September 2014. The unemployment rate dropped to 5.9% but failed to capture the true condition of the labor market for a number of reasons, including people too discouraged to look for work and people working part time when they would prefer working full time.

Grouped Articles

Job Growth Rebounds, but Wages Lag

Wall Street Journal 10/04/2014

Recipients of Jobless Benefits Down Sharply

Wall Street Journal 12/26/2014

Labor-Market Dropouts Stay on the Sidelines

Wall Street Journal 12/29/2014

Sluggish Productivity Hampers Wage Gains

Wall Street Journal 03/07/2015

The New Jobs Report Shows Janet Yellen’s Quandary in a Nutshell

New York Times 03/06/2015

Elizabeth Warren’s claim that the bottom 90 percent got ‘zero percent’ of wage growth after Reagan - The Washington Post

Washington Post 10/23/2015

Globalization and the white working class in Europe and the U.S. in 2016- job losses, regional disparities, growing inequality with declining incomes

07/13/2016

Sanders, Trump, in the U.S., Marie Le Pen in France, and Brexiters in England appeal to white working class which has not benefitted from trade agreements and globalization. Globalization has produced very different outcomes for different industries and regions, benefitting some and hurting others. Leaders of existing political parties have failed to grasp and respond to these changes leaving room for others to take up the cause of the white working class. TPP trade agreement for instance benefits the information technology industry and hurts the automobile industry in the U.S., producing unequal outcomes that come after years of job losses and hollowing out in some industries- making it unpopular, and raising questions about the wisdom of such policies when most of the gains in free trade are already behind us according to Krugman and other experts.

Grouped Articles

Brexit: The Era of the Angry Voter Is Upon Us - SPIEGEL ONLINE

SPIEGEL ONLINE 07/06/2016

What the New GOP Means for Wall Street

WSJ 07/19/2016

Support for Trump in unexpected places | US elections 2016 | DW.COM | 20.07.2016

DW.COM 07/20/2016

The presidential campaign and the US middle class | US elections 2016 | DW.COM | 13.03.2016

DW.COM 03/13/2016

Hillary Clinton Asks Not for Trust, but for Faith in Her Competence

The New York Times 07/29/2016

Two Political Conventions, Two Distinct World Views

WSJ 07/28/2016

Rebublican 2016 presidential candidate Donald Trump and the core support from the white working class, many 55-64 years without a high school education

11/18/2015

A PRRI and Brookings Institution survey shows 55% of Donald Trump's support comes from the white working class who see immigrants in a negative light and are critical of large corporate interests. This group also sees political correctness as being a problem.

Grouped Articles

Trump Rides a Blue-Collar Wave

Wall Street Journal 11/18/2015

Donald Trump Forges New Blue-Collar Coalition Among Republicans

Wall Street Journal 12/05/2015

Donald Trump calls for ‘total’ ban on Muslims entering United States - The Washington Post

Washington Post 12/08/2015

Trump Is the Democrats’ Dream Nominee

Wall Street Journal 12/10/2015

Donald Trump’s Plan on Muslims Is Opposed by Most Americans; GOP Is Split, WSJ/NBC Poll Finds

Wall Street Journal 12/11/2015

A Rash Leader in a Grave Time

Wall Street Journal 12/12/2015

Meyerson, Cherlin and Dionne in the Washington Post on the severe problems facing America's white working class by 2015

11/12/2015

Meyerson, Cherlin and Dionne describes the severe problems facing the white working class in America by 2015, as incomes and educational opportunities decline, and social structures disintegrate. Upward and social mobility in the U.S. is severely affected by this situation.

Grouped Articles

America’s white working class is a dying breed - The Washington Post

Washington Post 11/12/2015

The missing working class - The Washington Post

Washington Post 11/12/2015

Both parties face a blue-collar imperative - The Washington Post

Washington Post 11/12/2015

German lessons on power-sharing - The Washington Post

Washington Post 11/12/2015

Populism on the Rise in GOP Race for President

Wall Street Journal 11/12/2015

The Bleak Reality Driving Trump’s Rise

Wall Street Journal 12/16/2015

The youth class gap- Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam on the increasing disparities in educational and other opportunities of young people between upper middle class and working class

11/12/2015

Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam focusses on "the youth class gap," the widening gap between the educational and other opportunities available for upper middle class youth compared to youth from working class backgrounds.

Grouped Articles

Michael Gerson: Our disconnected working class - The Washington Post

Washington Post 11/12/2015

America’s white working class is a dying breed - The Washington Post

Washington Post 11/12/2015

The missing working class - The Washington Post

Washington Post 11/12/2015

It’s the American Dream, Stupid

Wall Street Journal 01/10/2016

Two Political Conventions, Two Distinct World Views

WSJ 07/28/2016

Voices From Donald Trump’s Rallies, Uncensored

The New York Times 08/03/2016

The blue collar and white working class vote in the 2016 U.S. presidential election

11/12/2015

Grouped Articles

Both parties face a blue-collar imperative - The Washington Post

Washington Post 11/12/2015

Populism on the Rise in GOP Race for President

Wall Street Journal 11/12/2015

It’s the American Dream, Stupid

Wall Street Journal 01/10/2016

Here’s what a conservative policy agenda should look like in the Trump era - The Washington Post

Washington Post 01/27/2016

What Republicans Should Say

New York Times 01/29/2016

How Both Parties Lost the White Middle Class

New York Times 02/01/2016

Tackling middle class poverty in the U.S.- causes and strategies

03/11/2009

Shrinking incomes, low job growth, growth in temporary jobs, offshoring of jobs, are part of a trend since 1989. This is compounded by acceleration of developments during the last decade of low savings and paltry return on savings, effects on net worth of the financial crisis of 2008 through job losses, lost income, foreclosures, high cost of health care and college tution for children. The combination is creating a new kind of middle class poverty in the U.S. The Obama administration has pushed for college education even as it is becoming less affordable and neglected jobs training. The push to raise the minimum wage helps the poor but does not do as much for the middle class.

Grouped Articles

Income Slides to 1996 Levels

Wall Street Journal 09/14/2011

Japan Is a Model Not a Cautionary Tale

New York Times 06/09/2013

OECD report cites rising income inequality - The Washington Post

Washington Post 12/06/2011

8 States to Raise Minimum Wage

New York Times 12/23/2011

U.S. Schools Chief Arne Duncan Labors to Straddle Political Divide

Wall Street Journal 07/22/2013

Hungry in America

New York Times 02/10/2010

Poverty among white Americans in 2010-2015

03/11/2009

A previous generation could count on good jobs in manufacturing with only a high school education. The last two decades of globalization have hit manufacturing jobs and wages in the U.S. hard and the impact is greatest on people without a college education. Other problems aggravating income and causing poverty is the increase of dropout rates from the labor force of young white American men, the effects of drug use and the lack of stable marraiges. This creates an underclass of whites in America, similiar to the underclass among minorities.

Grouped Articles

Racial Wealth Gap Widened During Recession

New York Times 04/28/2013

Income Slides to 1996 Levels

Wall Street Journal 09/14/2011

Young and Isolated

New York Times 06/22/2013

OECD report cites rising income inequality - The Washington Post

Washington Post 12/06/2011

U.S. Schools Chief Arne Duncan Labors to Straddle Political Divide

Wall Street Journal 07/22/2013

Hungry in America

New York Times 02/10/2010

U.S. income and poverty in 2014

09/17/2015

The median income in the U.S. was 6.5% below the level in 2007, according to the Census Bureau. It declined in 2011 and 2012 and was stagnant in 2014. About 14.8% of the population, or 46.7 million people, are below the poverty level. About 34.7% of the people in the U.S. have experienced income levels below the poverty level for 2 months or more between 2009-2012

Grouped Articles

Incomes and Poverty, 2014

Wall Street Journal 09/17/2015

A Better Way to Measure Poverty

Wall Street Journal 10/19/2015

The fatal trend among white working class Americans - The Washington Post

Washington Post 11/12/2015

The I-Word Our Debates Are Missing

Wall Street Journal 12/10/2015

A Republican Cure for Liberal Failures on Poverty

Wall Street Journal 01/10/2016

Apple should repay Ireland 13bn euros, European Commission rules - BBC News

BBC News 08/30/2016


Support LyrArc

We took a different way to help millions around the world build educated informed mindsets that affects and shapes their lives. For a future that is open, global and digital, with everyone having access to high quality information. We believe in the renewal of America, renewal of Europe, the renewal of India, the rest of Asia, Latin America and Africa. The renewal of our supply chains, health, education, infrastructure, as we rebuild our countries after the pandemic. Literacy and knowledge we believe cannot thrive and grow in a world of web bots, web crawlers, or AI. This requires human curiosity, human learning, and human imagination. We take as inspiration the saying- “One has to be free, and as broad as sky. One has to have a mind that is crystal clear, only then can truth shine in it.” Every contribution whether big or small is precious- in this crisis and ahead.

Support Lyrarc from as small as $1


Copyright © 2006 - 2026 Intelilinks LLC
Terms and Conditions | Copyright Policy | Privacy Policy | Contact Us