Second-lowest US wage gain in three decades

Second-lowest US wage gain in three decades


WHY DO YOU THINK THAT THE MEXICAN FASCIST PARTY of LA RAZA IS FINANCIALLY BACKED BY MOST OF THE FORTUNE 500, the U.S. CHAMBER of COMMERCE, AND THE LA RAZA DEMS?.... IT'S ALL ABOUT KEEPING WAGES DEPRESSED!!!  THE INVASION & OCCUPATION OF 38 MILLION ILLEGALS DEPRESSES WAGES FROM $300 - $400 BILLION PER YEAR, AND COST ABOUT THAT AMOUNT IN WELFARE AND "FREE" MEDICAL/BIRTHING COSTS FOR ILLEGALS!

WE ARE MEXICO'S WELFARE, JOBS, FREE MEDICAL AND JAIL SYSTEMS!

HOW MUCH DOE THEY SAVE BY EXPORTING THEIR POOR OVER OUR BORERD DAILY?


REALITY ON WALL ST. OWNED OBAMA: it’s all about keeping wages depressed, corporate profits soaring, and hispandering for the illegals’ votes!


The Obama administration is spearheading the attack on wages and benefits. It gave the initial impetus by imposing a 50 percent cut in the wages of newly hired auto workers as part of its rescue of General Motors and Chrysler in 2009. It continues to foster high unemployment by rejecting any government hiring programs and refusing to provide aid to state and local governments that are responding to huge budget deficits by slashing jobs and cutting public employee wages, benefits and pensions.

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Second-lowest US wage gain in three decades


By Barry Grey

29 January 2011

The US Labor Department reported Friday that American workers' wages and benefits increased last year by 2 percent, the second lowest increase since Labor Department records began 28 years ago. The figure was slightly higher than the 1.4 percent increase in 2009, the lowest yearly gain.



US employment costs in the fourth quarter of 2010 rose by a mere 0.4 percent, the report said.



These figures reflect the impact of a nationwide corporate offensive against the working class, in which near-double digit unemployment is being used to blackmail workers into accepting cuts in wages and benefits. On the other side of the ledger, corporate profits are soaring, mainly as a result of lower labor costs and higher productivity.



The Obama administration is spearheading the attack on wages and benefits. It gave the initial impetus by imposing a 50 percent cut in the wages of newly hired auto workers as part of its rescue of General Motors and Chrysler in 2009. It continues to foster high unemployment by rejecting any government hiring programs and refusing to provide aid to state and local governments that are responding to huge budget deficits by slashing jobs and cutting public employee wages, benefits and pensions.



An initial estimate of US economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2010 indicates that the jobs crisis will continue unabated in the coming months. The Commerce Department reported Friday that US gross domestic product (GDP) in the final three months of the year grew by 3.2 percent, less than the 3.5 percent gain expected by economists.



GDP for the previous quarter had risen by 2.6 percent. For all of 2010, GDP rose by 2.9 percent.



The New York Times quoted John Ryding, chief economist at RDO Economics, as saying, “Things are better, but they're not anywhere near where they need to be to make major inroads into unemployment.”



Prajakta Bhide, a research analyst for the US economy at Roubini Global Economics, told the Times, “We're still very much below the output growth rate needed to absorb the slack in the labor market. We're expecting to end the year with an unemployment rate of 9 percent.”



Friday's figures follow reports issued Thursday showing a rise in home foreclosures in most US cities, the result of long-term unemployment, and a 51,000 jump in new jobless claims.



Nor is there any end to mass layoffs. This week Abbott Laboratories announced it will slash 1,900 jobs, home improvement retailer Lowe's said it plans to eliminate 1,700 jobs, the school board in Austin, Texas approved the axing of 485 jobs, and New York Major Michael Bloomberg warned that the city could lay off 21,000 teachers, or 28 percent of the current teaching staff.

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We could cut unemployment in half simply by reclaiming the jobs taken by illegal workers,” said Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, co-chairman of the Reclaim American Jobs Caucus. “President Obama is on the wrong side of the American people on immigration. The president should support policies that help citizens and legal immigrants find the jobs they need and deserve rather than fail to enforce immigration laws.”


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“Obama’s rejection of any serious jobs program is part of a conscious class war policy. Two years after the financial crisis and the multi-trillion dollar bailout of the banks, the administration is spearheading a campaign by corporations to sharply increase the exploitation of the working class, using the “new normal” of mass unemployment to force workers to accept lower wages, longer hours, and more brutal working conditions.” WSWS.ORG

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“The principal beneficiaries of our current immigration policy are affluent Americans who hire immigrants at substandard wages for low-end work. Harvard economist George Borjas estimates that American workers lose $190 billion annually in depressed wages caused by the constant flooding of the labor market at the low-wage end.” Christian Science Monitor

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Michelle Malkin

The U.S. Department of Illegal Alien Labor



President Obama's Labor Secretary Hilda Solis is supposed to represent American workers. What you need to know is that this longtime open–borders sympathizer has always had a rather radical definition of "American." At a Latino voter registration project conference in Los Angeles many years ago, Solis asserted to thunderous applause, "We are all Americans, whether you are legalized or not."

That's right. The woman in charge of enforcing our employment laws doesn't give a hoot about our immigration laws –– or about the fundamental distinction between those who followed the rules in pursuit of the American dream and those who didn't.

While in Congress, she opposed strengthening the border fence, supported expansion of illegal alien benefits (including driver's licenses and in–state tuition discounts), embraced sanctuary cities that refused to cooperate with federal homeland security officials to enforce immigration laws, and aggressively championed a mass amnesty. Solis was steeped in the pro–illegal alien worker organizing movement in Southern California and was buoyed by amnesty–supporting Big Labor groups led by the Service Employees International Union. She has now caused a Capitol Hill firestorm over her new taxpayer–funded advertising and outreach campaign to illegal aliens regarding fair wages:

"I'm here to tell you that your president, your secretary of labor and this department will not allow anyone to be denied his or her rightful pay –– especially when so many in our nation are working long, hard and often dangerous hours," Solis says in the video pitch. "We can help, and we will help. If you work in this country, you are protected by our laws. And you can count on the U.S. Department of Labor to see to it that those protections work for you."

To be sure, no one should be scammed out of "fair wages." Employers that hire and exploit illegal immigrant workers deserve full sanctions and punishment. But it's the timing, tone–deafness and underlying blanket amnesty agenda of Solis' illegal alien outreach that has so many American workers and their representatives on Capitol Hill rightly upset.



With double–digit unemployment and a growing nationwide revolt over Washington's border security failures, why has Solis chosen now to hire 250 new government field investigators to bolster her illegal alien workers' rights campaign? (Hint: Leftists unhappy with Obama's lack of progress on "comprehensive immigration reform" need appeasing. This is a quick bone to distract them.)

Unfortunately, the federal government is not alone in lavishing attention and resources on workers who shouldn't be here in the first place. As of 2008, California, Florida, Nevada, New York, Texas and Utah all expressly included illegal aliens in their state workers' compensation plans –– and more than a dozen other states implicitly cover them.

Solis' public service announcement comes on the heels of little–noticed but far more troubling comments encouraging illegal alien workers in the Gulf Coast. Earlier this month, in the aftermath of the BP oil spill, according to Spanish language publication El Diario La Prensa, Solis signaled that her department was going out of its way to shield illegal immigrant laborers involved in cleanup efforts. "My purpose is to assist the workers with respect to safety and protection," she said. "We're protecting all workers regardless of migration status because that's the federal law." She told reporters that her department was in talks with local Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials who had visited coastal worksites to try to verify that workers were legal.

No word yet on whether she gave ICE her "we are all Americans, whether you are legalized or not" lecture. But it's a safe bet.

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