July 12, 2018

American Business Suffers as Wages Continue to Skyrocket

A couple of days ago I posted a chart showing the real increase in wages for American workers over the past year. Unfortunately, I could only draw the chart through May because we didn’t yet have the CPI inflation numbers for June. But today they’re out, so here’s an updated version of the wage chart:

The American worker has really been kicking ass over the past year! It’s no wonder so many companies are having a hard time filling all their positions. They’ve obviously done everything they conceivably can to attract workers off the sidelines, but for some reason workers just aren’t responding. What more can the business community possibly do?

POSTSCRIPT: I just know that some smart-aleck is going to complain that I’m showing only wages, and we really need to look at total compensation. Fine. Here it is through the first quarter of 2018:

I guess that shows me. The ECI is up a whopping 0.5 percent over the past year. Employers are really taking it in the shorts, aren’t they?

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

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And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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