SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Responding to the CareerBuilder report on Twitter, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, argued the results show the urgent need for "strong unions" and "an economy that works for us," not merely the wealthiest. (Photo: Steve Rhodes/Flickr/cc)
'Time to Redistribute Wealth': 1% Thriving While 78% Living Paycheck to Paycheck
As President Trump flaunts booming stock market, most U.S. workers as vulnerable as ever
Aug 25, 2017
Top CEOs may be thriving, but most American workers are drowning in debt, saving little, and living paycheck to paycheck.
That's according to a new report by CareerBuilder, which found that:
- 78 percent of American workers are living paycheck to paycheck, up from 75 percent last year;
- 71 percent of workers are in debt, up from 68 percent last year;
- 56 percent believe their debt is unmanageable;
- 54 percent of minimum-wage workers say they have to work more than one job to make ends meet.
The report's findings--based on a survey of more than 3,400 full-time workers across various industries and income levels--suggest that the stock market boom President Donald Trump has so frequently flaunted has done little to help the workers he claims to support.
As Michelle Smith pointed out in an analysis for the People Policy Project, "the stock market tells us about the prospects of capital owners, but it certainly doesn't tell us much about the average worker."
David Hildebrand, a democratic socialist challenging Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) for her Senate seat in 2018, observed that the numbers found in the CareerBuilder survey are "nothing new," and that they show "it's time to redistribute wealth."
As Common Dreams reported last month, wages for most workers have remained flat for decades. Meanwhile, CEO compensation continues to soar: a recent analysis by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that the pay of top CEOs rose by an "outrageous" 937 percent between 1978 and 2016.
Judging by his tax proposals--and by his claim during his presidential campaign that wages are "too high"--Trump appears unlikely to reverse these decades-long trends.
Responding to the CareerBuilder report on Twitter, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, argued the results show the urgent need for "strong unions" and "an economy that works for us," not merely the wealthiest.
Others echoed Weingarten's outrage and conclusion:
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Top CEOs may be thriving, but most American workers are drowning in debt, saving little, and living paycheck to paycheck.
That's according to a new report by CareerBuilder, which found that:
- 78 percent of American workers are living paycheck to paycheck, up from 75 percent last year;
- 71 percent of workers are in debt, up from 68 percent last year;
- 56 percent believe their debt is unmanageable;
- 54 percent of minimum-wage workers say they have to work more than one job to make ends meet.
The report's findings--based on a survey of more than 3,400 full-time workers across various industries and income levels--suggest that the stock market boom President Donald Trump has so frequently flaunted has done little to help the workers he claims to support.
As Michelle Smith pointed out in an analysis for the People Policy Project, "the stock market tells us about the prospects of capital owners, but it certainly doesn't tell us much about the average worker."
David Hildebrand, a democratic socialist challenging Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) for her Senate seat in 2018, observed that the numbers found in the CareerBuilder survey are "nothing new," and that they show "it's time to redistribute wealth."
As Common Dreams reported last month, wages for most workers have remained flat for decades. Meanwhile, CEO compensation continues to soar: a recent analysis by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that the pay of top CEOs rose by an "outrageous" 937 percent between 1978 and 2016.
Judging by his tax proposals--and by his claim during his presidential campaign that wages are "too high"--Trump appears unlikely to reverse these decades-long trends.
Responding to the CareerBuilder report on Twitter, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, argued the results show the urgent need for "strong unions" and "an economy that works for us," not merely the wealthiest.
Others echoed Weingarten's outrage and conclusion:
Top CEOs may be thriving, but most American workers are drowning in debt, saving little, and living paycheck to paycheck.
That's according to a new report by CareerBuilder, which found that:
- 78 percent of American workers are living paycheck to paycheck, up from 75 percent last year;
- 71 percent of workers are in debt, up from 68 percent last year;
- 56 percent believe their debt is unmanageable;
- 54 percent of minimum-wage workers say they have to work more than one job to make ends meet.
The report's findings--based on a survey of more than 3,400 full-time workers across various industries and income levels--suggest that the stock market boom President Donald Trump has so frequently flaunted has done little to help the workers he claims to support.
As Michelle Smith pointed out in an analysis for the People Policy Project, "the stock market tells us about the prospects of capital owners, but it certainly doesn't tell us much about the average worker."
David Hildebrand, a democratic socialist challenging Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) for her Senate seat in 2018, observed that the numbers found in the CareerBuilder survey are "nothing new," and that they show "it's time to redistribute wealth."
As Common Dreams reported last month, wages for most workers have remained flat for decades. Meanwhile, CEO compensation continues to soar: a recent analysis by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that the pay of top CEOs rose by an "outrageous" 937 percent between 1978 and 2016.
Judging by his tax proposals--and by his claim during his presidential campaign that wages are "too high"--Trump appears unlikely to reverse these decades-long trends.
Responding to the CareerBuilder report on Twitter, Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, argued the results show the urgent need for "strong unions" and "an economy that works for us," not merely the wealthiest.
Others echoed Weingarten's outrage and conclusion:
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.