Low-Wage Economy Destroys The American Dream
Rising unemployment, soaring health care costs, stagnating wages, crumbling job security--this is the state of working America today. With 41 million uninsured and 30 million working Americans--one of every four U.S. workers--at the official poverty level, it’s time to transform the low-wage economy into a living wage economy that can provide an opportunity for everyone to reach the American Dream.
Workers in this country are seeing their way of life on the verge of collapse as they work longer and harder for less. Despite a six-percent increase in productivity in the second quarter of this year, compensation isn’t following suit. Unions are providing relief to organized American workers and even others in markets where union density is high. But the attacks on working people show no sign of ending and ‘low-wage workers’ are being hit the hardest.
These low-wage jobs usually lack health care, child care, pensions and vacation benefits. Their working conditions are often grueling, dangerous, even humiliating. At the same time, more and more middle-class jobs are taking on many of these same characteristics, losing the security and benefits we worked so hard to get.
Over the last 20 years a number of myths have arisen to justify this low-wage economy. Get the facts and dispel the myths that perpetuate around low-wage jobs.
Myth #1: Low-wage work is merely a temporary step on the ladder to a better job.
Myth #2: Training and new skills will solve the problem.
Myth #3: American employers must keep wages and benefits low if they are to compete in the global marketplace.
Myth #4: Low-wage jobs are merely the result of an efficient market.
The richest country in the world should not tolerate such treatment of more than a fourth of its workers. A presidential campaign is the right time to begin a conversation on how to change it. Let’s stop the attacks on working people. You can take one step to stop the attacks now by sending a message to Congress opposing a Department of Labor proposal that could cut overtime pay from millions of workers.
Find out more about the low-wage economy. Read "The Betrayal of Work: How Low-Wage Jobs Fail 30 Million Americans," by Beth Shulman.
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