The Independent
ASHLAND —
There are many things to bemoan on this Labor Day. While economists and politicians assure us that the recession has ended and the economy is in the midst of an admittedly slow recovery, it sure doesn’t feel that way to most of us. In fact, despite all the things President Obama and Congress have done in hopes of boosting the economy, we don’t seem much better off than we were on Labor Day of 2009.
Nationwide, the unemployment rates is at slightly more than 9 percent, but most of us realize that is a misleading figure. The government does not count Americans who have become so discouraged that they have quit looking for jobs as being unemployed. Nor do the figures include Americans who have taken lower-paying jobs or accepted part-time work just to keep food on the able and a roof over their head.
But on this Labor Day, we choose to not emphasize the negative. A 9 percent unemployment rate would be a positive in many other countries. Even in many Kentucky counties, a jobless rate that low would be reason to cheer.
In a nation of 310 million people, some 154.4 million of us 16 or older are in the workforce, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. While too many of us who want jobs can’t find them, there are 7.6 million America workers who hold more than one job. For most of these “moonlighters”, the second job is on part time, but there are 284,000 people out there who work two full-time jobs.
Some 10.1 million Americans are self-employed. Despite all the talk about Americans working from home, only 5.9 million Americans actually do so.
While the 40-hour work week remains the standard, 27 percent work longer with 7 percent working 60 or more hours a week. Some employers encourage or even demand that their workers to work longer hours because they have found that the overtime they pay still costs less than hiring additional workers with full benefits. Other companies hire outside contractors for certain tasks rather than hiring more people .
For their jobs, the Census Bureau reported that Americans receive a median annual income of $46,367 for men and $35,745 for women. Some would cite those figures as evidence that women continue to be victims of job discrimination, but raw figures themselves do not provide conclusive evidence of gender discrimination. If females earn less than their male colleagues or doing the same tasks as men, that’s job discrimination, but if a female worker (or male worker for that matter) chooses to enter a lower-paying professions or opts to take more time away from worker to fulfill family obligations, they that’s a matter of choice, not discrimination.
Despite all the stories about workers losing their company-paid health insurance, 83 percent of American workers get health insurance at work and 78 percent get paid vacations. The median number of years workers stay with one employer is 4.1, but 10 percent of workers have been with their employer for 20 or more years.
For more than three decades, Americans have been urged to car pool or use public transpiration (if available) to get to and from work. Yet the Census Bureau says 76 percent of us drive to work alone. Eleven percent car pool; only 5 percent take public transportation. The average commute is just shy of 26 minutes.
We mention all this to say that things are not quite as bad as we often make it seem. Sure, we wish the economy were booming and more of us were working, but the vast majority of us have jobs and are thankful for that. Our good fortune gives us added reason to celebrate this Labor Day.
Happy Labor Day. For most of us, it will be a day off from work. If you are looking for something to do, go to Catlettsburg. That town knows how to celebrate this holiday.
