The coast’s share of containerized cargo fell from just over half of all tonnage arriving from Asia in 2004 to about 40% in 2013, much of that erosion coming from increased competition from Canada and Mexico. That has contributed to the air of harmony between port operators and dockworkers.
Those serving in California’s full-time legislature earn nearly $91,000 each year, higher than in any other state in 2014. New Hampshire’s part-time lawmakers, meanwhile, make just $200 per two-year term.
Low-wage and mid-wage workers still earned signifi cantly less in 2013 than before the Great Recession began, after adjusting for infl ation. This wage erosion continues a decades-long trend of widening wage inequality.
The deep recession wiped out primarily high-wage and middle-wage jobs. Yet the strongest employment growth during the sluggish recovery has been in low-wage work, at places like strip malls and fast-food restaurants.
Preliminary estimates suggest that minimum wage increases are associated with no net changes in government benefit receipt in the pre-Great Recession Era. While minimum wage increases may aid some working families in leaving the welfare rolls, adverse labor demand effects may increase government benefits received by others.
As lawmakers in the nation’s capital are mired in debate over likely outcomes from raising the federal minimum wage, businesses hit with local wage increases across the U.S. already are grappling with the reality.
The 23% gap implies that women work an extra 68 days to earn the same pay as a man. Mr. Obama advocates allowing women to sue for wage discrimination, with employers bearing the burden of proving they did not discriminate. But the numbers bandied about to make the claim of widespread discrimination are fundamentally misleading and economically illogical
President Barack Obama on Tuesday said the salary gap between men and women is unfair and needs to be remedied, outlining an election-year effort by Democrats to highlight gender pay disparities and shore up support for the party’s candidates among women voters.
Preempting the mayor, a group of labor activists led by Service Employees International Union Local 1021 filed documents with city’s Department of Elections on Monday to place a proposal on the November ballot to raise the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour – the highest in the nation.
We explore a number of reasons for the declines in geographic and labor market transitions, and find the strongest support for explanations related to a decrease in the net benefit to changing employers. Our preferred interpretation is that the distribution of relevant outside offers has shifted in a way that has made labor market transitions, and thus geographic transitions, less desirable to workers.
Since the Great Recession began in late 2007, that path has narrowed because many of the next-tier jobs no longer exist. That means more lower-wage workers have to stay put. The resulting bottleneck is helping widen a gap between the richest Americans and everyone else.
In a far-ranging assessment of how much California pays its help, a nonpartisan report on Tuesday said the state government will spend a half-billion dollars more on employee compensation next year, but most workers’ take-home wages will continue to lag behind inflation.
There’s a surprise side order of sourpuss getting served up in the national argument over raising the minimum wage: Some say they’ll stop tipping when they go out to eat.
“Here in the wealthy heart of Silicon Valley, the roads are pocked with potholes, the libraries are closed three days a week and a slew of city recreation centers have been handed over to nonprofit groups. Taxes have gone up even as city services are in decline, and Mayor Chuck Reed is worried. . . . In San Jose and across the nation, state and local officials are increasingly confronting a vision of startling injustice: Poor and middle-class taxpayers — who often have no retirement savings — are paying higher taxes so public employees can retire in relative comfort.”
An ordinance soon to be introduced in the City Council is expected to require 87 large hotels to pay a $15.37-an-hour “living wage,” nearly double California’s current $8-an-hour minimum.