US workers have taken a beating for the past 30 years except for 1995 to 2000. (Clinton years)
with one exception, workers in the United States have been taking a beating for the past thirty years. The single exception is roughly the period from 1995 to 2000. From 1995 to 2000, wages (unless otherwise indicated, wages will refer to “real” wages, a measure of the purchasing power of our wages) began to grow significantly after two decades of stagnation, especially for those workers at the bottom of the wage distribution. Poverty rates declined and unemployment rates fell to thirty-year lows. The gap between both black workers and Hispanics and whites declined, in terms of wages, family incomes, unemployment rates, and the incidence of poverty. However, this rebound in some of the most basic indicators of working-class well-being ended with the onset of recession in March 2001 and the beginning of what has accurately been described as a “jobless recovery” in November of that same year. During the recession and the recovery, unemployment rose and has stayed well above 5 percent up to the present. The gains made by minorities and those at the bottom of the income distribution have eroded. Most of the increases in total income have gone to the owners of capital; very little has found its way into the hands of workers. Most disturbingly, many months after the recovery began, employment remains stagnant and wages are once again falling behind the rise in prices.
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