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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 395 205 CE 071 729 AUTHOR Sklar, Holly TITLE Jobs, Income, and Work: Ruinous Trends, Urgent Alternatives. INSTITUTION American Friends Service Committee, Philadelphia, Pa. REPORT NO ISBN-0-910082-29-4 PUB DATE Mar 95 NOTE 122p. AVAILABLE FROM-Literature Resources, American Friends Service Committee, 1501 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102 ($7). PUB TYPE Reports Research/Technical C143) EDR:: PRICE MF01/PC05 Plus Postage. DES -SIPTORS Competition; Dislocated Workers; .*Education Work Relationship; Employer Employee Relationship; *Employment Patterns; *Employment Practices; *Employment Problems; Job Layoff; *Labor Market; Labor Turnover; Poverty;. Public Policy; *Salary Wage Differentials; Tables (Data); Trend Analysis; Unemployment; Unions IDENTIFIERS Global Economy ABSTRACT This book examines recent trends in the areas-of jobs, income, and work. Among the trends discussed are the iollowing: upward redistributjon of wealth; persistent impoverishment; less disposable income; lower wages and higher education; union-free labor and increasing numbers of "disposable" workers; competition for global corporations and free trading on cheap labor; rising U.S. unemployment; deceptive methods of measuring unemployment and underemployment; "technological unemployment"; attempts to hide bad economics behind scapegoats, blame women for illegitimate economics, and reduce welfare instead of poverty; unreversed discrimination; the locking up of "surplus" labor; the cycle of unequal opportunity; disinvestment and misinvestment; and unfair and unsustainable development. The need to include economic rights among human rights is emphasized. The following are among the policy elements said to be keys to a viable future: all-age social security; fair taxation and income support; work fair and full employment; shorter hours and shared work; workers' rights; environmentally sustainable development; conversion of the military-industrial economy; nonviolent conflict resolution; codes of conduct; corporate accountability; community investment and redevelopment; nondiscrimination; child caring; universal health care; equal educational opportunity; and participatory democracy. Twenty-one tables/figures and 215 reference notes are include.d. (MN) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. :.:,*************i.A******::********i.A******************i,-********* S DEPAMVENT OP C.UCAT ION r tCATIOr,AL tif S ORMAT ION t%.1Ert EI J.. 3 3 33 33of 3 -1 tr) ulnous (.1 ren s, r ent Iternativés HolSklar A report for the Community Rtiations Division American Friends Service Committee PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATf RIM HAS BEEN GRANTED B` p BEST COPY AVAiLABLE t_ ) TO THE EDU-,ATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) I le, and Wurk Ruinous Trends, Urgent Alternatives Holly Sklar A report for the Community Relations Division American Friends Service Committee 1995 This report was published by the Community Relations Division of the American Friends Service Committee. 0 1995, Roily Sklar and the American Friends Service Committee March 1995 ISBN 0-910082-29-4 .1 Contents Preface 1 introduction: "Chaos or Community?" 6 Reverse Redistribution 9 Table 1: The CEO-Worker Pay Gap 11 Flgure 1: CEO-Factory Worker Pay Gap 11 Table 2: Percent Distribution of Household Wealth and Income 12 Figure 2: Percent Distribution of Household income 13 Tabie 3: Changes in Average After-Tax Family Income, 1977-89 14 Figure 3: Percent Change in Avg. After-Tax Family Income, 1977-89 15 Persistent Impoverishment 16 Table 4: Adjusting the Poverty Rate for Food/Housing Costs and Noncash Benefits, 1988 18 Table 5: Percent Below Official and Alternative Poverty Levels, 1993 20 Breakdown of the Paycheck 21 Table 6: Hourly and Weekly Earnings of Production and Nonsupervisory Workers, 1947-93 22 Table 7: Median Income of Families with Chlirlen Under 18, Headed by Persons Younger than 30, 1973-90 23 Table 8: Official Poverty Rates Among Children in Families Headed by Persons Younger than 30 24 Table 9: Low Earners and High Earners, 1979-92 26 Table 10: Real Hourly Wage and Share of Wolk Force by Education, 1973-93 27 Lower Wages and Higher Education 28 Table 11: Projected Jobs 1992-2005 29 Union-Free Labor .30 Figure 4: Unionized Percentage of Labor Force 31 Disposable Workers 33 Competing for Global Corporations 36 Table 12: Countries with the Most Companies In the Fortune 500 37 Free Trading On Cheap Labor 39 Full of Unemployment 44 Figure 5: Rising U.S. Unemployment 45 Measuring Unemployment 50 Table 13: A Closer Look at Unemployment and Underemployment, 1994 53 "Technological Unemployment" 54 Hiding Bad Economics Behind Scapegoats 57 Blaming Women for Illegitimate Economics 60 Reducing Welfare Instead of Poverty 65 Unreversed Discrimination 69 Table 14: Official Youth Unemployment Rates, Third Quarter 1994 72 Table 15: Estimated Effects of Unemployment and Poverty on Social Stressors, 1975-90 73 Locking Up "Surplus" Labor 75 Cycle of Unequal Opportunity 80 Disinvestment and Misinvestment 84 Figure 6: Comparative Military Spending, 1993 87 Unfair and Unsustainable Development 88 We the People: Putting Economics in Human Rights 92 Keys to the Future 96 Notes 102 H lobs, Immo, and Work 1 Preface According to conventional economic measures, 1994 was a year of eco- nomic recovery, vigorous enough to prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates six times in order to slow growth. 1994 was also a turning point. Despite these seemingly upbeat growth statistics, the mood of the voting public was grim and in the November elections, Democratic control in Congress and many state governments was broken. The Republicans were swept to power in an expres.sion of fear, insecurity, resentment, and bigotry. These sentiments make fertile ground for right wing prescriptions that scapegoat those who are poor, or non-White, non-male, non-hetero- sexual, or not "American." %ere does this fear and anger come from? What are the economic and social events that have produced them? This publication addresses these questions. It traces the ruinous trends in our society towards greater in- equality in job opportunities, wages, wealth, ownership, and access to basic services; a curtailment of democracy through decreasing corporate account- ability and the ever-increasing power of the corporations and private fi- nance to dictate temis to states as well as nations; the intensification of punitive responses such as welfare cuts, prison expansion, and more severe sentencing; and the scapegoating of people living on the edge while reward- ing the wealthy. Fears about the economy --jobs and income in particularare certainly one source of the scapegoating. Behind the anti-immigrant legislation in California are the fears of households who feel economically insecure. Be- hind the attack on welfare mothers are the frustrations and resentments of people who feel overworked, underpaid, and fearful of losing their jobs. Behind the homelessness crisis are the speculative frenzies and the bad bets of the real estate market, yet the blame is heaped on the homeless victims who are increasingly being criminalized. The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) has a long history of work relating to economic justice, including support of labor, women's rights, welfare, and civil rights organizing; job creation projects in poor 2 Jabs, Income, and Wait communities; and development of housing for low-income and homeless people. The current focus on the issues of jobs, income, and work grew out of discussions within AFSC's Economic JusticeTask Force and theNation- wide Women's Program about welfare reform, particularly the variouswel- fare-to-work proposals. In addition to deploring the principle of a blanket requirement for welfare recipients to work off their benefits, it became clear to us that most welfare-to-work proposals are alsoimpracticable due to an absolute inadequacy in the number of jobs available to welfare recipients, and an even greater shortfall of jobs that pay a liveable wage. Eva Gladstein, a long-time AFSC committee member, wrote an excel- lent piece of research and analysis entitled Livelihoods in Jeopanly. That title reflects our concerns about falling wages and the lack ofjob opportuni- ties, as well as our concerns about work that ig unpaid and therefore unrec- ognized. This kind of inviible work includes' housework, raising children, caring for the sick, elderly and disabled, and community work. Jobs. In cwne, and ifiwk continues to deepen andbroaden our analysis of these issues. What are the implications of this analysis for AFSC's work? It is striking how far we've traveled- --backwards- -from the proposal for economic rights by President Roosevelt in 1944 and the UN Declaration of Human Rights in 1948: the right to a job, the right to a decent income, the right to leisure, the right to decent housing, education, and medical care. The conservative agenda that is ascendant today is grounded in the assumption that it is only by denying people these rights that the United States can be competitive and strong. The corporate competitive road is paved with lower wages, fewer benefits, longer hours, union busting, and fewer regulatory "burdens" such as health, safety, and environmental protections. It will be a challeit.2e, in this reactionary climate, simply to re-legitimize the notion of basic eco- nomic rights. And yet the public is not as vengeful as the right wing demagogues would have us believe. The Center for the Study of Policy Attitudes
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