U.S. Falls to No. 15 in Average Worker Income

[marmar]

from CSM, via AlterNet:



U.S. Falls to No. 15 in Average Worker Income

By David Francis, Christian Science Monitor. Posted November 13, 2007.


That ranking would surprise most Americans, who likely consider their nation the most prosperous in the world.




"Comparisons are odious," that is, hateful, according to a popular phrase about seven centuries old. Comparison, however, is one of the tasks assigned to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris, an international body of 30 of the richest countries. It tries to compare its members' economic and social data, a difficult, perhaps even odious, job.

Sometime back it broadened statistically (for comparison purposes) the definition of the average workers in its member nations while trying to examine relative tax burdens. The result was "monumental," reckons Jacob Kirkegaard, an economist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. The OECD ranked the after-tax income of the average worker in the United States as 15th among its member nations. The richest middle class, if measured in terms of the purchasing power of their income, was Britain.

That ranking would surprise most Americans, who likely consider their nation the most prosperous in the world.

In one fell swoop, OECD statisticians lowered the estimated income of the average American worker by more than 10 percent and raised average incomes of other rich nations by as much as 30 percent, notes Mr. Kirkegaard.

It may well be that the comparative US standard of living is slipping. The price of oil has risen more dramatically in the United States than in other nations because of the dollar's large devaluation.

The reason for the drop is also statistical. In the past, the OECD had been using a proxy for the middle class based on the "average production worker." This concept focused on full-time workers in the relatively declining manufacturing sector, which tends to be unionized in the US and better paid on average. The OECD's new measure is based on the "average worker," which captures all sorts of private-sector jobs including mining, utilities, construction, retail, hotel/restaurants, financial services, real estate, and other areas.

So this new system ought to provide a fairer comparison.

But 15th place? ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/workplace/67723/

[MisterHowdy]

1. Why do i keep hearing that the US is the greatest country in the world?

Surely a countries greatness is determined by more than just its military power.

[marmar]

3. Because it's been beaten into our heads since birth....

Traveling has taught me otherwise....The world is full of great countries and great people, and the U.S. is no greater than any of them.

[bdamomma]

9. .................

:thumbsup: I agree with your comment.

[bdamomma]

8. Great, it's not anymore with these thugs in abuse of power.

[Odin2005]

11. It's a relic of back when democracies were few and far between. Now it's nothing more then...

...nationalistic propaganda.

[marmar]

2. delete, attached to wrong response, mods pls delete

.....

[flashl]

4. Relatively declining manufacturing sector?

Isn't burger-flipping a manufacturing job?

[zabet]

5. I think burger-flipping

is a service industry job, not a manufacturing job.

[flashl]

12. Found where I read it. This admin seriously proposed manufacturing

Marketplace: Friday, February 20, 2004
Newscast: Sure, a Big Mac does require a certain amount of assembly…Bush administration economic advisors are posing the question of whether jobs in the fast-food industry, currently classified as "service jobs," ought to be reclassified as manufacturing jobs.

In the New Economics: Fast-Food Factories?

Is cooking a hamburger patty and inserting the meat, lettuce and ketchup inside a bun a manufacturing job, like assembling automobiles?

That question is posed in the new Economic Report of the President, a thick annual compendium of observations and statistics on the health of the United States economy.

Just as surreal as a reporting that this admin once included the military in job numbers.

[zabet]

13. The question is posed as to whether or not

to change the classification but, most current
economic models classify it still as service
industry.
I think manufacturing industry should be used to
describe making consumer goods that are used multiple
times over time. Fixing food does not qualify. If
they do change the classification it will be only to
show a false increase in manufacturing jobs, showing
false economic growth in the manufacturing sector.
Just the way I see it, not saying I am right or wrong.

[flashl]

15. We are in agreement.

As noted earlier, finding that the military was used in the jobs count, is just one of many "reporting" changes to enhance "outlook" observed under this admin.

[woodsprite]

6. Wonder how we compare with other countries in the CEO category. n/t

[marmar]

7. I'm sure we rank 1st in that department......

Thom Hartmann did a story about the largest company in Sweden the other day - a company that consistently outperforms just about any corporation in the world but has a philosophy that it should also benefit the public good. Its CEO makes $1.9 million a year.

[madrchsod]

10. yet we are the most productive/efficient workers in the world.

i wonder where all that money we are making for the "man" is going......

[Kansas Wyatt]

14. Time for BushCo & Republicans, Inc. to adjust their 'fuzzy math'

To include the Super Rich to be classified as workers in America.