As a follow-up to yesterday’s low wage blog entry, today’s New York Times cites 2006 Census figures that paint the low-wage picture - three consecutive years of declining average American wages, household income still below 2001’s figures, and an increase of 2.2 million uninsured Americans to total 47 million who lack health insurance (the numbers for kids is 700,000 more without health insurance - a total of 8.7 million uninsured). From the Times:
“The nation’s median household income grew modestly in 2006, the Census Bureau reported yesterday, even as the percentage of people without health insurance hit a high.
Experts said the rise in income was mainly a reflection of an increase in the number of family members entering the workplace or working longer hours. Average wages for men and women actually declined for the third consecutive year.
‘There’s lots of evidence that more people are working,’ said Jared Bernstein, a senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal policy group in Washington. ‘The important theme going on here is a labor market that’s definitely offering people more work and more hours, but at lower wages.’
….
Some Republicans seized on the new data as evidence that Bush administration policies had been good for people’s pocketbooks.”
Yes, as “some” Republicans say it’s true - most people want to work more for less - just ask ‘em!
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