For Clara
Mikeg
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 22 Apr 1998 14:11:15 EDT
From: Louis Dequesa <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [netz] Article On IAM JOURNAL
Hello Fellow Netizens:
The following is a copy of an article which I am in total agreement
with, which appears on the Spring 1998 issue of "IAM JOURNAL" (your
guess is as good as mine as to what "IAM"stands for).
"BIG BUSINESS LIE"
"MYTH OF THE OVERPAID AMERICAN"
We hear the drumbeat every day:"U.S. workers earn too much
and produce too little. They've priced themselves out of the world
market. To compete, U.S. workers must make concessions".
But the myth of the "overpaid American" collapses the minute
we look at wage and other benefits levels in other industrialized
lands.
In 1996 (the most recent year for which figures are available)
U.S.ranked No.12 in the world in wages and benefits paid to production
workers according to the Dept.of Labor Bureau of Labor Standards
(BLS).
Far from leading the world, the U.S. hasn't even ranked among
the "TOP 10" highest paying nations since 1990, according to BLS
studies of hourly compensation costs in 28 industrial countries
across Asia, America and Europe. Indeed, U.S. workers' wages and
benefits, placed in the "TOP 5" internationally, only seven times
during the past 22 years.
When the BLS looked at wages alone ("hourly direct pay"), U.S.
production workers ranked No.11 in the world in 1996 and finished
in the "Top 5" in only nine of the last 22 years. U.S.wages last
lead the world in 1985, when the U.S.tied with Norway.
U.S.employers are ultra-cheap when it comes to benefits. The U.S.
ranked last in the world every year for the last 22 years in paid
vacations, holidays, leave time and other vital benefits, BLS figures
show. Japanese employers earmarked a world leading average of 26.7
percent of hourly compensation costs to worker benefits and services
in 1996, while U.S. companies spent only 6.4% for such purposes.
"CRYING ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK"
To hear Corporate America cry, you'd think business taxes are
eating them alive. But the U.S. business community has never-in the
past 22 years-ranked among the world's "TOP 5" most heavily taxed
industrial sectors, when the BLS compared labor and social insurance
taxes as a share of hourly compensation costs.
The highest U.S.business ever ranked internationally was No.8
and the U.S. appeared in the "TOP-10" most heavily taxed business
sectors in only 6 of the past 22 years.
U.S. business also has no reason to cry about worker
productivity. Indeed, every year, since 1960, U.S. workers have
produced more wealth, per capita, than any industrial workforce on
earth, two BLS studies show. (The much-vaunted Japanese workforce
lagged U.S. worker output by 31% during the past 36 years.
U.S. workers also out-produced the world in two BLS studies
measuring wealth created per worker. In one study, U.S. workers
ranked No.1 in 29 of the past 36 years; in a second study, they
ranked No.1 in 32 of the past 36 years. In no year studied did the
U.S. worker output ranked below second in the world.
GLOBAL WAGES AND BENEFITS FOR PRODUCTION WORKERS IN MANUFACTURING,
1996:
Germany.......$31.87
Switzerland.. $28.34
Belgium.......$26.07
Austria.......$24.95
Norway........$24.95
Sweden........$24.56
Finland.......$24.45
Denmark.......$24.38
Netherlands...$23.33
Japan.........$21.04
France........$19.34
Italy.........$18.08
U.S. .........$17.74
Lou D.
