Now, let’s begin Part Two of why American workers are giving more and getting less.

This second part of our two-part series outlines three workplace trends: (1) how American workers are giving more and getting less; (2) the widening financial gap between corporate executives and the average American worker; and (3) the struggle of millions of Americans to make ends meet. It’s all painful stuff, believe me.

Because this series appears at first blush to be “gloom and doom,” perhaps a bit of explanation is in order. As it turns out, the explanation is about corporate greed, business trends, the upward spiral of executive compensation, and facts that are clearly defined by a quick look at what’s happening with all levels of wages in this country in the last few years.

The financial gap between corporate executives and the average American worker is wider than ever. Corporate profits and executive salaries surge, while workers’ wages barely keep up with inflation. Millions of Americans juggle two or three part-time jobs to keep up with the bills. Many of the jobs being added today lack benefits, the chance for mobility, and the security of long-term stability.

U.S. corporate profits increased 87% from the third quarter of 2001 to the end of 2003, while wages and salaries grew only 4.5%. Last year, the average CEO was paid $9.2 million, including stock options. For those CEOs remaining in the same position from 2002 to 2003, their cash wages increased 14.4% — considerably higher than the increase in wages for most American workers (2%). Excluding the value of options granted in the last two years, those CEOs received, on average, total compensation of $5.9 million, up 23% from an average of $4.8 million in 2002.

Contrast that picture with that of the rank-and-file worker caught in a major squeeze. For those with jobs, their wages barely keep up with inflation. Many of those without jobs cannot find new jobs equivalent to the ones they have lost. For the 85 million people who hold office or factory jobs below the rank of supervisor or manager, their average hourly wage, $15.46, is up only 3 cents since July 2003. That wage is rising at an annual rate of less than 2%, barely enough to keep up with inflation, mild as it now is. Today more than 28 million people, about a quarter of the working-age workforce, work full-time yet still earn less than the income that marks the federal poverty line for a family of four: $9.04 per hour, a full-time salary of $18,800 a year. Childcare workers can't afford the care for their children that they provide for the children of others, and retail workers can’t pay for the goods they sell to their customers.

Americans are working for less pay than they have worked for in the past. The sectors of the economy adding jobs pay an average of $14.65 an hour, while those discarding jobs pay $16.92. Five of the 10 fastest-growing occupations over the next decade will be of the dead-end variety, including retail clerks, janitors, and cashiers. More people are working part-time than ever: In November 2003, for the first time the number exceeded 25 million. Many are classified as "involuntary" part-time, either because they couldn’t find full-time jobs or because their employers had put them on part-time schedules: 4.9 million in November, an increase of 600,000 from a year ago and 1.6 million since the recession began in March 2001.

Federal legislation to limit corporate executive pay, closer scrutiny of compensation practices, and requiring companies to expense stock options will help curb the tide, as will demands from consumers and stockholders for more reasonable compensation practices. It’s essential to immediately raise the federal minimum wage to a level which will lift workers out of poverty, and which is scaled to inflation to prevent workers’ interests from being held hostage to political whims.

Some facts:

• It takes an unemployed worker 20 weeks to find a job, 50% longer than in the 1970s.
• Jobs created in the next two years will pay an average of $36,000. Jobs lost in the last three years paid $43,000.
• By 2015, an estimated 3.3 million service jobs will be lost to offshoring or technology.

Factual source: Workplace Fairness

Joe Hodowanes, a career strategy adviser in Tampa, Florida, offers a free resume and career analysis. Fax your resume to (813) 936-0201 or email it to jmwanes@jmwanes.com For questions, call Joe at (813) 936-0091 or visit www.jmwanes.com on the Web. All Job Search Advisor articles on this website are the property of www.jmwanes.com (J.M. Wanes & Associates). You may download
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