Labor Day 2006
Today marks the 124th anniversary of the obesrvance of Labor Day in the United States. The Wall Street Journal provided a "report card" recently (registration required) discussing workers' reasons to celebrate and a few reasons to complain. All in all it provdes an interesting overview of workplace statistics in the United States. For example:
- The median household income rose 1.1% last year, after falling for five previous years in a row (accounting for inflation).
- The U.S. continues to lead most of the world injob creation - 4.8 million jobs created since December 2001.
- There are 46.6 million Americans who are uninsured or 15.9% of the population.
- By 2004 only 18% of private sector employers were offered traditional defined-benefit pensions, down from 24% in 1994. In addition, 40% of private sector worker have no on-the-job retirement plan.
- Union membership is down to about 12.5% of the U.S. workforce (although it's probablt about 25% here in NY).
On that note, it's finally a beautiful day here in NY and time to take the day off!