McEconomy: Is America's Middle Class Doomed to Low-Wage Jobs and a Poor Standard of Living?

[upstatecajun]

Think of it as a parable for these grim economic times. On April 19th, McDonald's launched its first-ever national hiring day, signing up 62,000 new workers at stores throughout the country. For some context, that's more jobs created by one company in a single day than the net job creation of the entire U.S. economy in 2009. And if that boggles the mind, consider how many workers applied to local McDonald's franchises that day and left empty-handed: 938,000 of them. With a 6.2% acceptance rate in its spring hiring blitz, McDonald’s was more selective than the Princeton, Stanford, or Yale University admission offices.

It shouldn’t be surprising that a million souls flocked to McDonald's hoping for a steady paycheck, when nearly 14 million Americans are out of work and nearly a million more are too discouraged even to look for a job. At this point, it apparently made no difference to them that the fast-food industry pays some of the lowest wages around: on average, $8.89 an hour, or barely half the $15.95 hourly average across all American industries.

http://www.alternet.org/economy/150872/mceconomy%3A_is_america%27s_middle_class_doomed_to_low-wage_jobs_and_a_poor_standard_of_living/

[BlueJazz]

1. Your post reminds me of what Henry Ford said when he first started to build Cars.

His Top managers complained that the workers would "Make too much money" and should only make a lowly wage.
Henry turned to them and said: "Yeah, well..Who's gonna' buy the Cars"

...and that applies to all the low wage service jobs that are being offered by many companies now.

Who's gonna buy all the Cars, homes, Ipads..etc..?

[upstatecajun]

2. I guess big Corporations

are banking on China to be the next middle class country that can afford to buy all the crap they are making......I agree, soon there will be no one left in the USA you can afford their crap.

[jp11]

6. That's why they gave us credit cards, said we should refinance and have seniors

cash in their 'house banks'. Then when we all default, go bankrupt etc even more people will be clamoring for those crappy jobs, and an end to UE as everyone works 2+ jobs making peanuts. Well that or they go on the streets, commit crimes, then go to jails privately run for profit paid for by the government with everyone's tax money.

[WinkyDink]

7. The Chinese rising Middle-Class. South Americans. Others.

[liberal N proud]

3. Yes, this is what they expect Americans to be

[notesdev]

4. Rejected for a job at McDonalds...

938,000 people now have that experience. That's got to be ego-CRUSHING.

[WinkyDink]

8. Soul-destroying. These fellow citizens and humans are beyond "ego."

[aquart]

5. It is if we refuse to tax the rich. Heavily.

I was leaning toward a lenient 80% gross tax after the first seven million but now I've been convinced by Eisenhower. 91% is the only way to keep these bastards sane.

[Brickbat]

9. It is if it settles for low wages and poor standards of living.

Some people don't settle for that.

[IndyPragmatist]

10. It is better than nothing....

Yeah, it would be nice if McDonalds workers made $15/hour, but if that were the case, you could kiss the dollar menu goodbye. McDonalds has a fairly small profit margin for each worker. To keep prices low, they have to pay low wages.

That is just the market. There are some aspects of the market that we can influence, but this is not one of them. McDonalds pays above minimum wage to lure better workers. They are only responding to what the population wants. And the population wants $1 double cheeseburgers. They want cheap fast food.

This isn't Ruth Chris steak house. You aren't going to Mcdonalds and expecting a high quality meal. You are going to Mcdonalds to get a cheap and fast meal. If McDonalds wanted to pay higher wages, they would be forced to raise prices or reduce staffing. Both of which would go against what the people want. People want it cheap and fast, and the only way to achieve that is to pay workers relatively low wages.

McDonalds only pays low wages to the low-skilled cooks and cashiers. Managers and assistant managers can make up to $45,000/year working for McDonalds. Add to that, Mcdonalds also has a policy of promoting within. They may not treat the lowest workers the best, but thats because most of the time, those workers aren't all that dedicated to the company. I went to high school with a kid that worked at Mcdonalds at the drive-through for 3 years, then he was promoted to assistant manager his senior year of high school and made more money than anyone in our class (He made $15/hour). Now he works as a regional manager. I have no idea what he makes now, but I'm sure its a very livable wage.

My point here is that sometimes things aren't always as they seem. Fast food restaurants have a lot of employees that don't care about their job. Many are high school kids that just need basic spending money. I haven't eaten Mcdonalds in about a year. But I do like knowing that if I get the craving for a doublecheeseburger at 1AM, I can have one for $1. I would be willing to pay up to $2 for that burger, but many people wouldn't. And as long as that is the case, Mcdonalds workers will be paid less than $10/hour.

[w8liftinglady]

12. Depends on where you live. In central texas, majority of employees are adults

making $8.00/hr

Compare that to wages earned by management

http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/people.asp?ticker=MCD:US

Yes, facility shift managers earn 45K/yr for 60 hour work-weeks....they earn every freaking penny of it.

I have no issue with CEOs earning a decent wage.
When the CEO is making 14 million and the average manager is making 45 thousand...um,there IS a disparity

[jp11]

13. That is a symptom of the larger problem where too many people aren't paid

properly. IF people were paid living wages then we could afford to pay $5 for a hamburger at MCDonalds, people wouldn't flock to walmart for their deals, etc. We have been bled for years so we seek out the cheapest way to stretch money we have in short supply or don't have (credit) to get by or to have the standard of living sold to us over and over. Many can't afford it, the market says, to hell with them get off your butt and make money if you want that while not offering living wages or affordable health care, homes, cars, education etc.

So while there are always going to be 'dead end' MCjobs (low wage/limited growth) that suit certain people when you see people who had careers seeking those jobs it is a symptom of a larger problem. The most obvious one is the economy and the burst bubble but it has been going this way for decades where workers aren't seeing their wages increase but CEO's keep getting raises multiple times in shorter time periods. Many of the jobs that highschool kids used to take are taken by older people because they are less likely to run off when pissed about this or that and actually need the job to put food on their table as opposed to some teens needing money for gas/movies/whatever.

The population also wants good paying jobs for people but the market isn't responding to that, it is responding to desperate people willing to work for minimum wage because there is a vested interest in seeing that outcome come about.

[SoCalDem]

11. My son finally got a job, BUT

his previous job was as a crane operator at a steel mill in Seattle, and now he's working at a recycling center for $9.00 an hour..

His generous unemployment package finally ran down, and his mill never restarted shift 2 & 3 (they ran 3 8's when he was working there, and he was the lowest in seniority for the crane operators.

So he went from 60K a year, to unemployment to $9 an hour.. He;s glad to be back to big equipment, and hopes that he'll be recalled to the mill, but something is better than nothing..He lives frugally, and can make it, but at 32, he should be on his way UP...instead he's taken a big step back..

[w8liftinglady]

14. I also encourage people to compare CEO pay to worker pay

http://www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/paywatch/

Like most,I have no issure with CEOs making good salaries. I do have an issue with CEOs making onscene salaries while working stiffs go on welfare to make ends meet.