US workers’ pay plummeted 4% over the past 5 years – report

RT

Published time: 4 Sep, 2015 03:52

 

© Shannon Stapleton / Reuters

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Despite nearly 250,000 jobs being created monthly in the US economy, the majority of Americans saw real wages plummet 4 percent over the past five years, when adjusted for inflation, according to new report by the National Employment Labor Project.

“Stagnant wages have become a fact of life for nearly all of America’s workers, but workers in lower-paying occupations are finding it especially tough to keep up with the rising cost of living,” said Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project (NELP), a research and advocacy group, in a statement.
“Not only are their paychecks not growing, but their purchasing power has shrunk considerably, and to a far greater extent than that of higher-wage earners.”
The report looked at the percentage change in hourly wages for 785 occupations from 2009 to 2014, and then divided those jobs into five classifications. While hourly wages declined across all occupations, the hardest hit workers were those in lower- and mid-wage fields.


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