#RisingCosts #WageIncreases #ImprovingEconomy
The economy is improving.
Therefore, interest rates are rising.
Therefore, wages are increasing as unemployment is decreasing.
Therefore, costs of just about everything is rising, which may be canceling out wage increases for many.
In its Weekly Explainer, published Oct. 29, 2018, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution took on this subject, largely quoting economist Aaron Sojourner of the University of Minnesota.
Sojourner spent a year as part of the Council of Economic Advisers in Washington.
The unemployment rate is now as low as it has been since the dot-com boom. Yet, it’s really hard for a lot of people to get a meaningful raise, which is defined as exceeding the price increases of necessities, the article says.
Real average hourly earnings, meaning wages adjusted for inflation, in August for all employees are up 0.1 percent, the article quotes the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall prices have increased by the same amount during the same time period, the article says.
“On average, most workers were running in place,” the article reads.
Moreover, for ordinary workers over the last year, real average hourly earnings actually decreased 0.1 percent, the article quotes the BLS.
If you are an average worker, whether or not you have gotten a raise recently, you probably feel that you can’t get ahead.
Sure, employers are fighting over a finite labor pool, poaching even within a restaurant chain, some of which have eased their rules against that.
So one may end up going from one job to another, doing pretty much the same work, and might see $1 an hour more. But if the cost of what you have to buy is increasing by that much, you may think it’s better to keep up than to fall behind – and it is.
So what’s a person who really wants to get ahead to do? That depends on whether that person is willing to look at things that can put extra money in his or her pocket, without interfering with what he or she is doing now.
That doesn’t mean a second, relatively low-paying job. It means looking at something that could dramatically change your life for the better.
There are many such vehicles out there that potentially can do that. To check out one of the best, message me.
Meanwhile, keep your eyes open for a better-paying job. Look at doing something you may never have thought you would do. Rather than complain about how things are, do something to make your life better.
Though employers may look desperate for help in some areas, there’s only so much they are going to pay for that help. No matter how much your boss may like you, if you threaten to go, there’s only so many inducements he or she will offer to convince you to stay. Try not to make such a decision on emotion. Always have your mind on what would be best for you.
When unemployment is down, wages go up, and prices go up to pay those higher wages. It’s a progression you cannot stop. But you can look at things that, with a little effort outside of your job, and a strong goal for your life, can allow you to reach your dream.
Peter
Tag Archives: improving economy
FINANCIAL STRESS? YOU ARE NOT ALONE
#FinancialStress #ImprovingEconomy #FinancialStrains
We hear the economy is improving.
We also hear that companies can’t fill jobs, when just a few short years ago, they were laying people off in droves.
Yet, many are suffering financial distress.
“A growing number of low- and middle-income households are plagued by high debt and have little or no savings,” writes Paul Davidson for USA Today. “The financial strains have especially worsened for those near the bottom of the income ladder,” Davidson continues.
Davidson, whose article on the subject was also published April 19, 2018, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, quotes a UBS study that says some households could fall behind on loan payments, reduce their spending and slow or even undercut a buoyant U.S. economy for the first time since the Great Recession officially ended in 2009.
In other words, the economic news we hear isn’t telling the whole story.
Though the study focuses on lower-income households, other households, whose income was just fine prior to the recession, have yet to recover. The job they now have pays less than the jobs they lost. The manageable debt they had with the higher-paying job is less manageable now.
The article quotes a Bankrate.com survey that says rents are soaring. One in five working Americans aren’t saving any income, the survey says. Average rents have jumped 30 percent nationally since 2010, the article quotes RealPage.
In other words, paychecks have grown much more slowly than expenses.
What to do, if you’re in this predicament?
Perhaps moving is not an option. More than likely, if you are having trouble paying your rent, your search for cheaper accommodations will be futile, since the studies indicate that rising rents is a universal problem.
A second job? Chances are your first job already extracts too much from you for too little compensation, and the thought of getting a second job, even as a temporary measure, is unappealing. Besides, the second job probably won’t give you the extra financial cushion you need, and will just take more of your time away from your family, or things you like to do.
So what is the solution? Perhaps, instead of a second job, you could check out one of the many ways to make extra money without having to get another traditional W-2 job. To examine one of the best such vehicles – one that could also help you save money on some household expenses – message me.
It’s been said that a rising (economic) tide will lift all boats. It’s also been said that building an economy from the bottom up, is better for everyone than building from the top down.
However you look at things, be it the economy as a whole or your life in particular, you can’t count on someone, or something, to solve your problems, if you are having problems.
You have to look for things YOU can do to make your life better. It’s great to set goals, but they will not be reached without action on your part.
Sometimes, all it takes is meeting someone who can show you a way out that you hadn’t noticed, or thought about, before.
If such a person comes into your life, don’t ignore him or her. See what he or she is offering, and whether it is right for you.
Peter
SILENT ECONOMIC IMPROVEMENTS
#economy
We hear and read that the economy is really improving.
Yet, many of us don’t see it, or feel it.
The reasons may be too numerous to mention all of them, but a few key ones are: you may have lost a good job and gotten a new one, but you are making less money. Many of us had to get back on our feet, sort of, by making less money. That is a trend. Businesses want more and better work, for less.
Here’s another: you had a house. You either lost your house in foreclosure, or you had to sell your house for less than it was worth because you lost your job. Your new job, if you’ve gotten one, pays less, but you had to take a lesser house. What gets you, too, is that some rich investor gobbled up your former house for pennies on the dollar, and is either renting it to someone else in your situation, or has resold it for more than you could have afforded to buy it back. To the investor, the economy is booming. But you don’t feel it.
A third: you were lucky to keep your job that you’ve had all these years. You’ve survived downsizings, buyouts and the like, intact. But you have not had a raise in years. Your costs, for everything, have gone up. You don’t see the boom in the economy. Yet, you are supposed to consider yourself lucky to have survived. Perhaps, it’s the new normal.
For those who already had pretty good means, the economy is improving. They are seeing the recession disappear, and their fortunes return, and even improve. But so many are left in the dust. They have been downsized, resized and even “recovered.” Yet, they may never see anything resembling the life they once had. They were good at what they did, helped their employers do well, but they were forced to find a new life with less.
You start to see signs saying employers are hiring. You check out some of them, and find that the jobs they are hiring for will hardly make you a living, or are part time. Or, perhaps, the jobs not only don’t pay well, they are incompatible with your life. There may be a shortage of truck drivers, as has been recently reported. But having a job that puts you on the road at all hours of the day and night for $50,000 a year just isn’t going to work for you. There was a time when driving a truck paid much better. Those days are gone.
We are starting to read and hear about companies hiring, shortages in certain professions and even new jobs being created. When you check them out, many of them are either beyond your qualifications or they don’t pay nearly what they should. Wages should start to rise in this situation, but they are slow to. Employers still believe there are enough desperate people out there that they can still pay less.
So, if you are not seeing the boom in the economy that many are talking about, you are not alone.
There is good news here. There are many things out there that can provide an alternative to the traditional job. And, they can pay you pretty handsomely. But, as in anything, you have to be a person who wants something badly enough to look at something different.
If you are that person, visit www.bign.com/pbilodeau, and see one of the best.
You can mope, cope and hope. Or, you can look outside what you know, get a desire to change things for yourself and take the plunge. In this new world, others will willingly help you succeed.
Some may want you to settle for less. Don’t settle. Succeed.
Peter