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We all know America’s working families are struggling to make ends meet. But you know the economic scenario for working families really must be in dire straits when pro-business think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and American Enterprise Institute (AEI) co-sponsor a report showing men’s income is worse off today than 30 years ago. (For a perspective on women’s income, take a look at yesterday’s report on balancing work and family.)
In fact, the data show in 2004, median income for a man in his 30s, a good predictor of his lifetime earnings, was $35,010, 12 percent less than for men in their 30s in 1974, adjusted for inflation. So today’s sons will be worse off than their fathers. The report, Economic Mobility: Is the American Dream Alive and Well? is part of the Economic Mobility Project, a collaborative effort of The Pew Charitable Trusts, AEI, the Brookings Institution, the Heritage Foundation and the Urban Institute. Quoting no less an authority than President Bush, the report begins:
President George W. Bush addressed the issue for the first time in January 2007 during remarks to Wall Street: “The fact is that income inequality is real—it’s been rising for more than 25 years.” Among the report’s other findings: · Growth in after-tax income for the top 1 percent has far outpaced growth for others between 1979 and 2004. · The United States has less relative economic mobility than many other developed countries. · Income falls behind productivity. Between 1947 and 1974, productivity and income grew together, but between 1974 and 2005, productivity and income grew apart. After blowing apart the myth that upward mobility is still part of the American way of life, the report repeats what Unions have said many times: Our nation’s middle class, embattled with unaffordable health care and education costs, rising debt and lower and lower paying jobs, is shrinking. Sinking, actually.
The report concludes on this note: Even if growth were to resume at its former pace, a growing gap between U.S. productivity and median family income challenges the notion that a rising tide will lift all boats. Unless the rate of economic growth increases, the next generation will experience an improvement in its standard of living that is only one-third as large as the historical average for earlier generations. What it doesn’t mention is that one big solution to the growing income gap is enabling working families to get a voice through union membership. We’re working on that through the Employee Free Choice Act, now in the Senate (S. 1041). The measure would level the playing field for workers seeking to join unions—and get a shot at better wages, health care coverage and retirement security.
The economic news isn’t good. But we don’t have to be helpless. Take a minute to join in the final push to pass the Employee Free Choice Act in the Senate. Click here to sign an online card and let your senators know you support the Employee Free Choice Act. |
