Next shoe to drop for U.S. job seekers: lower wages

[Joanne98]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - With "no end in sight" for U.S. job losses amid a recession that could stretch into 2010, American workers will soon have to contend with another blow to their confidence: stagnant, or even falling wages.

Job seekers -- already coping with the highest unemployment rate in a quarter century, their savings mugged by a plunging stock market -- can also expect lower pay once they land a new job, labor market experts say, because the current downturn shows no signs of turning around anytime soon.

"There's no end in sight," said Tig Gilliam, chief executive of Adecco Group North America, the third-largest U.S. employer behind Wal-Mart Stores and the postal service.

"March is going to be the same, and I don't see anything that will make April better."

Lower wages, in turn, could further erode the outlook for the U.S. economy by hurting consumers' spending power.

The government's February employment report showed 651,000 jobs eliminated outside the farm sector, while losses in the previous two months were revised upward. The unemployment rate jumped to 8.1 percent, highest since 1983.

Job losses in professional services categories are accelerating, and temporary payrolls -- typically a leading indicator -- show no signs of improving, Gilliam said.

The temp sector, where losses preceded the decline in the wider labor market by a year, must stabilize before any hint of a wider jobs recovery.

Temporary workers as a percentage of the total workforce are down to 1.42 percent, a level not seen since May 1994. The bottoming of this metric typically correlates with the end of recession, said BMO Capital Markets analyst Jeffrey Silber in a research note.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE52567K20090306

[ixion]

1. from my perspective, this article is missing the point, and is biased

For one, while it is still technically a 'recession', this article skips over the fact that if it does indeed last until 2010 (wishful thinking, IMO) it would most definitely be a depression.

And as far as what we 'workers' have to "contend with," well, it goes well beyond "confidence." We're talking about people's livelihoods here, not there confidence.

Nor does it bother to mention the downward pressure on wages since the 70's, in general, and since 2000, in particular. Especially for the IT industry, which has been decimated by off-shoring and H1-B Visas.

It mentions wage growth near the end, which is a farse, at best. Wages have been stagnant or in decline from what I've been seeing in the job market.

AP and Reuters used to write world class journalism. Now, it's just so much fluff, IMO.

[jody]

2. Delete, mea culpa. n/t

[jody]

3. Isn't there a relationship between "lower wages" and the "lower prices" that consumers demand? n/t

[madrchsod]

4. real wage growth stopped in the 70`s.

the economy will not recover until wages are increased and the united states has universal health care.

[Autumn Colors]

5. I'm sure lowering U.S. wages was one of their goals

... "they" being * and friends and the upper tier of the economic spectrum.

Of course, once that's complete, the jobs will come back to the U.S. (welcome to third-world status ... USA! USA! USA!)

I can't believe this wasn't part of their game plan all along. A wealthy class and a poor class .... and no middle class ... with the poor class too busy and tired from working 2-3 jobs to make ends meet to have any time for "protesting" or "revolting".

[Hello_Kitty]

7. Yep.

And with so-called "liberals" like Tom Friedman cheering it on along the way. If I ever meet him I will invite him to shove his Flat Earth drivel up his ass.

[amandabeech]

9. Give that shovel a good push for me, while you're at it.

The guy is hopeless.

[Hello_Kitty]

6. Yay! Globalism worked beautifully

No, really. It worked just the way it was supposed to, for the people for whom it was designed to enrich.

[upi402]

8. I contributed to craigslist.org today

i feel so good about it, i hope others contribute too. we'll likely need it to scrape by with barter and cash deals. the peak oil warnings in the cars & trucks section was pretty cool. wonder what happened to that purple link...

[raccoon]

10. That's something new? " stagnant, or even falling wages" for American workers?

That's been going on for decades.