Think we live in a tough economy? Think again. Look at these up-to-date stats…
59% of all Americans are directly or indirectly (via 401K’s and pensions) invested in the stock market: an all-time high in percentage of population who, in October, benefited from stock market highs.
Gas prices dropped last month, as much as 50-cents a gallon. And the much predicted stall in home construction failed to materialize; in fact, there was 4% growth (Incidentally, the average new home is 2,434 square feet, 62% larger than the average home built in 1970, according to the National Association of Home Builders – we’re livin’ large!). Only one sector of the American economy seems to have serious trouble: the old big 3 automakers.
A great deal of noise has recently been made (again) about the urgent need to raise the minimum wage, so these facts may be of interest: only 2.7% of hourly paid employees and 1.1% of salaried employees are paid at minimum wage level. Approximately 30% of that is tied to “entry level jobs” occupied by people entering the workforce for the first time, second jobs, and completely unskilled workers. The hospitality and leisure industries have the highest percentage of these workers – and that includes seasonal employment at resorts and amusement parks.
Factoring all this together, the best estimates are that fewer than 2% of American workers are in minimum wage jobs as their full-time employment/career, from which they are attempting to support families. (Sources: Bureau Of Labor Statistics; Employment Research)
So next time you hear your TV, your newspaper or your friends and family saying times are hard…think again. There’s more opportunity and wealth than ever before – take a look at the facts!
Desktop Reader
Google
Netvibes
Yahoo!
Bloglines
Live
Newsgator
What's This?
Much depends on where you live in the US, however with infinite possibilities online for additional streams of income can make location obsolete. Raising the minimum wage will help out the little guy, but an also put more strain on small businesses due to the added costs in labor. Businesses will eventually raise prices to compensate for these costs. So I ask, Who Wins?
Charles – good points.
What many liberals/democrats don’t get is…you can’t tax a business. It’s impossible. Because, like you pointed out, the “tax” or added fees or costs…are simply passed along to the customers.
So who does win in the end? Especially after reading the stats above…
Great points. I have forever debated with the liberals/democrats whose stance is for the “working class”. Are entrepreneurs like ourselves not “working” people?
Your right, in that we can’t tax businesses, and it’s just not smart to raise the minimum wage, as it will get passed on to the consumer. Your stats were very interesting.
I wish the media would start paying more attention to teh entrepreneurs and people who take risks in what we call free-enterprise.
Great post here.
Success,
Josh Peak
Hi!
I would like improve my SQL capabilities.
I red so many SQL books and would like to
read more about SQL for my position as db2 database manager.
What would you recommend?
Thanks,
Werutz
Everyone experiences tough times, it is a measure of your determination and dedication how you deal with them and how you can come through them.