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  Monday  September 2  2002    11: 10 AM

Labor Day

Today is a busy day getting ready for tonight's TestingTesting (click on in at 7 pm (pacific)) so there won't be much posting until tomorrow. But here is a Labor Day link from last year. I don't think much has changed.

Who's Better Off This Labor Day?
Numbers Tell

TO KNOW WHOSE labor is actually being honored on Labor Day, consider these facts, drawn from recent data from by the Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy, the Economic Policy Institute, the American Sociological Review, and the new book ''Raise the Floor,'' published by the Ms. Foundation for Women:

If the minimum wage had risen at the same pace as American productivity since 1968, it would be $13.80 an hour.

If the minimum wage had risen at the same paces as domestic profits since 1968, it would be $13.02.

If the minimum wage had risen at the same pace as profits in the retail industry, it would be $20.46. Nearly half of the workers in the retail industry make less than $8 an hour. While 16.9 percent of America's work force is in the retail industry, 35 percent of America's workers who make less than $8 an hour are in the retail industry.

If the minimum wage had risen at the same level pace as executive pay since 1990, it would be $25.50 an hour, not $5.15.

If the average pay for production workers had risen at the same level as CEO pay since 1990, the annual salary would be $120,491, not $24,668.
(...)

You cannot tell that children are our most precious resource by how we pay child-care workers. The median wage of child-care workers is $6.91 an hour. The median wage of parking lot attendants is $6.89. Preschool teachers average $9.43. Animal trainers average $12.39. [read more]

thanks to wood zilla lot