Forum Post: Profits Soar For Largest Low-Wage Employers, WHILE PAYCHECKS SHRINK

America’s low‐wage economy is marked by two extremes.  On the one hand, workers earning at or near the minimum wage are seeing the real value of their paychecks diminish steadily over time, as the cost of living increases while their wages remain stagnant.  After nearly half a century of neglect, today’s federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour is decades out of date.  In terms of purchasing power, its value is 30 percent lower today than it was in 1968.

On the other hand, many corporations are posting record‐breaking profits. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year that, after sinking from 2007 to 2009, corporate profits had successfully caught up to their pre‐ recession peak by the beginning of 2010 – and that by the third quarter of 2011, total profits for U.S. corporations reached a new record high of $1.97 trillion.

This report examines the connection between these opposing extremes of stagnant wages and soaring corporate profits.

http://nelp.3cdn.net/24befb45b36b626a7a_v2m6iirxb.pdf

http://www.nelp.org/page/-/Press%20Releases/2012/PR_MinWageCorpProfits.pdf?nocdn=1