I just heard Mr. Trump has nominated a man named Andrew Puzder to be the new Secretary of Labor. He was described in the Washington Post [Labor Department pick is a critic of $15 minimum wage, WP, December 9, 2016] as an executive of two fast food restaurants: Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. The article called him a supporter for the Trump policy of “lowering taxes for corporations and the wealthy and loosening regulations for businesses can boost job creation” the standard slogan of Republicans for decades.
Several other comments outlined in the article stand out. First, the article said Mr. Pudzer is an “opponent of the Affordable Care Act, claiming higher health premiums have left consumers with less money to spend and hurt the restaurant business.” Apparently Mr. Pudzer prefers to have Americans eat hamburgers and french fries as a substitute for health care coverage since that will increase profits in his fast food empire.
However, Mr. Trump promised to create jobs so Mr. Pudzer might like to know that 28.4 percent of new jobs since 1990 have come in the health care industry. The share of America’s establishment employment in health care as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics has increased just under 5 percent since 1990 to 13.3 percent of establishment jobs, both percents more than any other industry sector. The fast food industry has 2.9 percent of establishment jobs, up only .67 percent since 1990. If new jobs are the Trump goal, then health care is the best sector, not to mention the higher pay in health care than the low wage fast food industry.
The Washington Post article also quoted a previous comment of Mr. Pudzer that new overtime rules “add to the extensive regulatory maze the Obama Administration has imposed on employers.” The overtime rules are part of administration of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The current rules he ridicules were drafted by the George W. Bush Administration in 2003 specifically to eliminate overtime pay for millions of Americans. President Obama has proposed changing one, and only one, number but nothing else. He wants to raise eligibility for overtime from a salary of $23,660 to $47,776 to make several million people eligible for overtime pay that are denied overtime by people like Mr. Pudzer.
Mr. Pudzer also opposes raising the minimum wage, but that too is part of regulations written for the Fair Labor Standards Act and so the rules he ridicules are the exact rules that allow him to keep wages low and convert costs to profits to put in his pocket. I would say his views show a conflict of interest since he expects to profit from a government policy he intends to control.
Mr. Puzder also invoked a standard corporate threat against higher wages. He said it “encourages automation!” We learn fast food executives are investing in automation and considering machines that could tackle simple tasks such as taking customer orders. “If you’re making labor more expensive and automation less expensive- this is not rocket science.”
Organized labor lost jobs to automation in the 19th century. Over the last thirty years millions have been forced out of jobs from computer automation, but fast food wages are already so low his work force can leave him to be self employed mowing grass or baby sitting compared to the pathetic wages he pays. He ought to remember a bully needs better threats.
A hundred years ago there was no fast food industry but people who worked in low skill, low paid jobs called themselves wage slaves. Apparently the working class voted for Mr. Trump, but Mr. Puzder’s comments give the clearest sign yet the working class will continue to be wage slaves in the Trump Administration.
Saturday, December 10, 2016
Saturday, November 5, 2016
History, Politics, the working class, and the vote for 2016
The Sorry State of the working class
On April 13, 2016 the New York Times ran an op-ed piece entitled “Foiling Obama, Congress Made Trump.” Republican successfully blocked every effort Obama made to benefit the working class with constructive proposals: a cut in the payroll tax, an infrastructure bank to create construction jobs, a larger child tax credit, community college investments, an expanded earned income tax credit, making retirement plans portable across employers, tax credits for manufacturing communities, wage insurance.
Presidential election night commentary repeatedly mentioned the angry working class and how they voted for Donald Trump, apparently in large enough numbers to swing a few key states and the election. Many of the Trump voters were characterized as working class whites with a high school education struggling to get by on low paid jobs. A corporate decision to close a factory and move to Mexico or China often figured in their low income and loss of employment. The loss of jobs then figured in the collapse of their local housing market and empty strip malls sprinkled about in cities and towns across the mid western states.
Trump campaigned with many Democratic proposals the Republican establishment hates and blocked during the Obama years. He attacked American business moving jobs overseas during the campaign along with the NAFTA trade agreement. Neither the Republican or Democratic parties or any of its presidents have ever challenged the absolute right of corporate America to shut down plants and operations in the United States and move them to Mexico or China or anywhere they want to go. Neither party does a thing to slow it down, or appears to care about places like Detroit, decimated by autocratic corporate decisions. The best the Democrats have ever done is to offer trade assistance or retraining for those who lose their jobs.
For Trump to keep his promises to the people who elected him he will have to fight the Republican Party establishment and propose more aggressive policies than the modest efforts of the Democrats. The Democrats have already organized an agenda around his campaign pledges in what shapes up into a three cornered discussion, that is if Trump really meant what he said during the campaign.
The Trump and Democratic proposals can help generate new spending which in turn helps create jobs, but they do almost nothing to stem the surplus of labor or fix the policies accepted by both parties. More spending won’t be enough; the supply of labor has to be addressed.
Trump’s proposals include a demand to cut immigration and reduce the supply of professional foreign labor under the H1-b program, but H-1b is only one of several other programs that bring in foreign labor. Otherwise I have heard nothing about changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act. President Obama tried to amend the overtime rules and get more people a chance to earn time and half for work over forty hours, but the Republicans howled against it and filed suits to stop it.
As of now the minimum wage remains at $7.25 an hour for a forty-hour week and anyone earning over $23,660 has no right to overtime if an employer chooses to put them on a salary. Two people working sixty hour weeks equal three people working forty hour weeks. Unpaid overtime helps restrict new jobs and add to the already massive oversupply of labor. Two decades of higher productivity has eliminated millions of jobs and helped generate an even bigger surplus of labor working a forty-hour week. The full time workweek will need to be decreased to 30 hours phased in over several years.
Trump will have to lower federal income taxes on the modest wages and salaries of the low paid working class. In 2015 a single person earning $25,000 had to pay $1,743.75 in federal income tax even though it is not possible to live on such a low salary and that is before social security and state taxes. A couple both earning $25,000 pay $3,487.50 in federal income tax. If their income had been corporate dividends they would have paid nothing, not a cent in federal taxes.
It was the working class that put Trump in office, but it will be easy to tell if they get something for it. They got nothing from Reagan or the two Bush presidents. Republicans are pickpockets, but Trump refuses to sound like a Republican so maybe now will be different. Maybe.
On April 13, 2016 the New York Times ran an op-ed piece entitled “Foiling Obama, Congress Made Trump.” Republican successfully blocked every effort Obama made to benefit the working class with constructive proposals: a cut in the payroll tax, an infrastructure bank to create construction jobs, a larger child tax credit, community college investments, an expanded earned income tax credit, making retirement plans portable across employers, tax credits for manufacturing communities, wage insurance.
Presidential election night commentary repeatedly mentioned the angry working class and how they voted for Donald Trump, apparently in large enough numbers to swing a few key states and the election. Many of the Trump voters were characterized as working class whites with a high school education struggling to get by on low paid jobs. A corporate decision to close a factory and move to Mexico or China often figured in their low income and loss of employment. The loss of jobs then figured in the collapse of their local housing market and empty strip malls sprinkled about in cities and towns across the mid western states.
Trump campaigned with many Democratic proposals the Republican establishment hates and blocked during the Obama years. He attacked American business moving jobs overseas during the campaign along with the NAFTA trade agreement. Neither the Republican or Democratic parties or any of its presidents have ever challenged the absolute right of corporate America to shut down plants and operations in the United States and move them to Mexico or China or anywhere they want to go. Neither party does a thing to slow it down, or appears to care about places like Detroit, decimated by autocratic corporate decisions. The best the Democrats have ever done is to offer trade assistance or retraining for those who lose their jobs.
For Trump to keep his promises to the people who elected him he will have to fight the Republican Party establishment and propose more aggressive policies than the modest efforts of the Democrats. The Democrats have already organized an agenda around his campaign pledges in what shapes up into a three cornered discussion, that is if Trump really meant what he said during the campaign.
The Trump and Democratic proposals can help generate new spending which in turn helps create jobs, but they do almost nothing to stem the surplus of labor or fix the policies accepted by both parties. More spending won’t be enough; the supply of labor has to be addressed.
Trump’s proposals include a demand to cut immigration and reduce the supply of professional foreign labor under the H1-b program, but H-1b is only one of several other programs that bring in foreign labor. Otherwise I have heard nothing about changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act. President Obama tried to amend the overtime rules and get more people a chance to earn time and half for work over forty hours, but the Republicans howled against it and filed suits to stop it.
As of now the minimum wage remains at $7.25 an hour for a forty-hour week and anyone earning over $23,660 has no right to overtime if an employer chooses to put them on a salary. Two people working sixty hour weeks equal three people working forty hour weeks. Unpaid overtime helps restrict new jobs and add to the already massive oversupply of labor. Two decades of higher productivity has eliminated millions of jobs and helped generate an even bigger surplus of labor working a forty-hour week. The full time workweek will need to be decreased to 30 hours phased in over several years.
Trump will have to lower federal income taxes on the modest wages and salaries of the low paid working class. In 2015 a single person earning $25,000 had to pay $1,743.75 in federal income tax even though it is not possible to live on such a low salary and that is before social security and state taxes. A couple both earning $25,000 pay $3,487.50 in federal income tax. If their income had been corporate dividends they would have paid nothing, not a cent in federal taxes.
It was the working class that put Trump in office, but it will be easy to tell if they get something for it. They got nothing from Reagan or the two Bush presidents. Republicans are pickpockets, but Trump refuses to sound like a Republican so maybe now will be different. Maybe.
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
The Middle Class, the Working Class and American Politics
The Middle Class, the Working Class and American Politics
The term middle class works especially well for millionaires and billionaires. They find it useful as a way to get families and individuals to envy the rich and identify with them. People who think their middle class are more likely to feel superior to people identified as working class.
Many stories in the media cite middle class criteria for you to evaluate your personal status. Are you in the middle class? Money Watch published a typical list on the Internet. It lists eight criteria: 1. You earn between $36,000 and $109,000 a year, 2. You own a home, 3. You have a secure job, 4. You have health insurance, 5. You invest for retirement, 6. You went to college, 7. You take family vacations and 8. You think you’re middle class.
It’s instructive that five of the eight criteria – 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 - apply to how much you earn and what you can afford. In a consumer oriented society business wants everyone to define themselves and their class by what they earn, own and buy. People who compare their income with others might forget about job rights and what they go through to earn a living.
Equating class to what you earn and buy ignores the power to control the political system. If you answer yes to the following four statements you are in the privileged upper class. If you answer no, then you are in the working class.
1. You sit on the board of directors of an American corporation with more than $100 million in assets.
2. Your lawyer and accountant have set up your non-profit foundation that gives away more than a million dollars a year.
3. You do not pay more than 15 percent marginal personal income tax and have in one or more years in the past decade paid no federal personal income tax.
4. You can easily support yourself and your family in the manner you expect without working for a wage or salary.
Political power determines the economic rules that allow and perpetuate the upper class. As Warren Buffet likes to tell the press from time to time wage earners pay taxes at more than double the rate he pays for corporate stock dividends or capital gains. If we define the working class as people who have to support themselves working for a wage or salary, the current tax rules create a decided disadvantage for the working class. I am unaware of working class influence on Congress that might change that.
There is a famous quote of Jay Gould, the American tycoon from the 19th century: "I can hire one half the working class to kill the other half." Back in the 19th century tycoons like Jay Gould did hire working class guards to shoot at picketing strikers; Mr. Gould was not making idle threats. Lately Governors like Scott Walker of Wisconsin get the under paid, over worked, over taxed members of the working class to attack public school teachers who they are encouraged to think are over paid and privileged members of the middle class. The working class who vote for a Scott Walker vote for a politician who steadily works to lower their standard of living.
The working class has always been divided because some people think they’re in the middle class when there’s no such thing as the middle class. The term is deliberate deception and diversion. If you work for wages, or you’re retired and live on the savings and Social Security from your wages, you’re in the working class. Your income means nothing in that classification; it’s how you earn a living, not how much. If Americans know who they are, there will be changes in American politics that uplift the miserable and powerless lot of wage earners.
What class are you in?
The term middle class works especially well for millionaires and billionaires. They find it useful as a way to get families and individuals to envy the rich and identify with them. People who think their middle class are more likely to feel superior to people identified as working class.
Many stories in the media cite middle class criteria for you to evaluate your personal status. Are you in the middle class? Money Watch published a typical list on the Internet. It lists eight criteria: 1. You earn between $36,000 and $109,000 a year, 2. You own a home, 3. You have a secure job, 4. You have health insurance, 5. You invest for retirement, 6. You went to college, 7. You take family vacations and 8. You think you’re middle class.
It’s instructive that five of the eight criteria – 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 - apply to how much you earn and what you can afford. In a consumer oriented society business wants everyone to define themselves and their class by what they earn, own and buy. People who compare their income with others might forget about job rights and what they go through to earn a living.
Equating class to what you earn and buy ignores the power to control the political system. If you answer yes to the following four statements you are in the privileged upper class. If you answer no, then you are in the working class.
1. You sit on the board of directors of an American corporation with more than $100 million in assets.
2. Your lawyer and accountant have set up your non-profit foundation that gives away more than a million dollars a year.
3. You do not pay more than 15 percent marginal personal income tax and have in one or more years in the past decade paid no federal personal income tax.
4. You can easily support yourself and your family in the manner you expect without working for a wage or salary.
Political power determines the economic rules that allow and perpetuate the upper class. As Warren Buffet likes to tell the press from time to time wage earners pay taxes at more than double the rate he pays for corporate stock dividends or capital gains. If we define the working class as people who have to support themselves working for a wage or salary, the current tax rules create a decided disadvantage for the working class. I am unaware of working class influence on Congress that might change that.
There is a famous quote of Jay Gould, the American tycoon from the 19th century: "I can hire one half the working class to kill the other half." Back in the 19th century tycoons like Jay Gould did hire working class guards to shoot at picketing strikers; Mr. Gould was not making idle threats. Lately Governors like Scott Walker of Wisconsin get the under paid, over worked, over taxed members of the working class to attack public school teachers who they are encouraged to think are over paid and privileged members of the middle class. The working class who vote for a Scott Walker vote for a politician who steadily works to lower their standard of living.
The working class has always been divided because some people think they’re in the middle class when there’s no such thing as the middle class. The term is deliberate deception and diversion. If you work for wages, or you’re retired and live on the savings and Social Security from your wages, you’re in the working class. Your income means nothing in that classification; it’s how you earn a living, not how much. If Americans know who they are, there will be changes in American politics that uplift the miserable and powerless lot of wage earners.
What class are you in?
Monday, September 26, 2016
Donald Trump on Coal Mining Jobs
Donald Trump on Coal Mining Jobs
Lately I heard Candidate Trump blaming the Democrats for the loss of jobs in coal mining. Since he does not believe in global warming it follows that enforcement of clean air regulations for coal fired electric plants makes people like Hillary Clinton responsible for these job losses.
Maybe not.
Back in the early 1920’s just under 800,000 worked as coal miners in the coal industry. It was a time when inter city transportation came entirely from the use coal burning, steam locomotives. It was a time when nearly everyone used coal for home heating. It was a time when the steel industry needed mountains of coal. It was early in the mechanizing use of high productivity machinery.
It was also the beginning of the mordant and mournful decline in coal mining jobs. By 1990 the coal industry employed 136 thousand in surface and underground mining of bituminous coal and anthracite coal. Steam locomotives are gone; few heat their homes with coal; the steel industry uses scrap in electric furnaces. By the end of 2000 jobs were down to 71.6 thousand; by the end of 2010 they recovered to 84.3 thousand; by the end of 2015 the coal industry was down to 60.7 thousand jobs; by August 2016 jobs were 52.4 thousand.
Just over 64 percent of the jobs in coal mining are in construction, extraction and material moving occupations and five of these occupations are partly to mostly specialized to the coal industry. These five are continuous mining machine operators, mine cutting and channeling machine operators, roof bolters, loading machine operators in underground mining and shuttle car operators.
All employed in these occupations operate highly productive mining machinery; they do not use a pick and shovel. For example, 90 percent of shuttle car operators work in the coal industry. The median wage reported for 2015 was $55,320 and that wage has increased faster than inflation since 2008, right after the Obama administration took office. Given the specialized nature of the work it would be next to impossible for laid off shuttle car operators to find a similar job in another industry and similarly for the other four occupations mentioned above.
Other occupations in the coal industry in management, finance, construction, maintenance and repair have employment in many industries and those losing these jobs in the coal industry can seek employment in many other industries just like the rest of us. Since the end of 2008 the five specialized coal mining occupations have lost an average of 859 jobs a year through 2015.
It is worth mentioning that employment in oil and gas extraction and support activities for oil and gas extraction have increased in the years of the Obama presidency from 2008 to 2015 by 27.1 percent, or an additional 102.2 thousand jobs, more than the loss of coal industry jobs. Even if we assume the last eight years of decline in coal demand results solely from clean air regulations applied to coal fired power plants, there is no need to weigh clean air against the loss of jobs in this instance. It doesn’t matter what Trump says or does; coal employment will not be going up, no matter how dirty the air.
Lately I heard Candidate Trump blaming the Democrats for the loss of jobs in coal mining. Since he does not believe in global warming it follows that enforcement of clean air regulations for coal fired electric plants makes people like Hillary Clinton responsible for these job losses.
Maybe not.
Back in the early 1920’s just under 800,000 worked as coal miners in the coal industry. It was a time when inter city transportation came entirely from the use coal burning, steam locomotives. It was a time when nearly everyone used coal for home heating. It was a time when the steel industry needed mountains of coal. It was early in the mechanizing use of high productivity machinery.
It was also the beginning of the mordant and mournful decline in coal mining jobs. By 1990 the coal industry employed 136 thousand in surface and underground mining of bituminous coal and anthracite coal. Steam locomotives are gone; few heat their homes with coal; the steel industry uses scrap in electric furnaces. By the end of 2000 jobs were down to 71.6 thousand; by the end of 2010 they recovered to 84.3 thousand; by the end of 2015 the coal industry was down to 60.7 thousand jobs; by August 2016 jobs were 52.4 thousand.
Just over 64 percent of the jobs in coal mining are in construction, extraction and material moving occupations and five of these occupations are partly to mostly specialized to the coal industry. These five are continuous mining machine operators, mine cutting and channeling machine operators, roof bolters, loading machine operators in underground mining and shuttle car operators.
All employed in these occupations operate highly productive mining machinery; they do not use a pick and shovel. For example, 90 percent of shuttle car operators work in the coal industry. The median wage reported for 2015 was $55,320 and that wage has increased faster than inflation since 2008, right after the Obama administration took office. Given the specialized nature of the work it would be next to impossible for laid off shuttle car operators to find a similar job in another industry and similarly for the other four occupations mentioned above.
Other occupations in the coal industry in management, finance, construction, maintenance and repair have employment in many industries and those losing these jobs in the coal industry can seek employment in many other industries just like the rest of us. Since the end of 2008 the five specialized coal mining occupations have lost an average of 859 jobs a year through 2015.
It is worth mentioning that employment in oil and gas extraction and support activities for oil and gas extraction have increased in the years of the Obama presidency from 2008 to 2015 by 27.1 percent, or an additional 102.2 thousand jobs, more than the loss of coal industry jobs. Even if we assume the last eight years of decline in coal demand results solely from clean air regulations applied to coal fired power plants, there is no need to weigh clean air against the loss of jobs in this instance. It doesn’t matter what Trump says or does; coal employment will not be going up, no matter how dirty the air.
Friday, July 22, 2016
Jobs as Chefs
Chefs and Head Cooks
Standard Occupational Classification #35-1011 Chefs and Head Cooks
SOC Definition - Direct the preparation, seasoning, and cooking of salads, soups, fish, meats, vegetables, desserts, or other foods. May plan and price menu items, order supplies, and keep records and accounts. May participate in cooking. Also known as: Executive Chef; Pastry Chef; Sous Chef
Chefs and head cooks are classified as food preparation and serving related occupations with the majority working in the accommodations and food services industry. For chefs and head cooks 45.1 percent work in full service restaurants, another 7 percent at limited service eating places like cafeterias, grills and buffets, snack and non-alcoholic beverage bars, 10.6 percent in accommodations including traveler accommodations, casino hotels, RV parks and recreational camps, and 6.0 in the amusement, gambling and recreation industry. Education employs 1.5 percent and hospitals about .9 percent and private households 4.9 percent as self-employed chefs.
National employment as chefs and head cooks was 129,370 in 2015. Jobs are up since 2000 when jobs were 122,860. The annual average job increase equals 434 per year since 2000 at a growth rate of .34 percent. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is forecasting job growth for chefs and head cooks of 1,130 per year through 2024 at a growth rate of .85 percent a year.
Job openings make a better measure of new hiring than job growth. Job openings are job growth and the number of net replacements. Net replacements are people who permanently leave an occupation for another occupation or retirement and must be replaced before there can be job growth. Job openings for chefs and head cooks are forecast to be 3,000 a year through 2024.
The recently updated BLS Education and Training Classification assignments list high school diploma or equivalent skills as necessary for entry into jobs as chefs and head cooks. However, percentages from survey data are published for chefs and head cooks showing an educational distribution where 29.2 percent have a high school degree, 17.6 percent have less than a high school degree, 22.5 percent some college, but no degree, 16.9 percent have an associates degree, 12.3 percent have BA degrees, and 1.6 percent have an advanced degree. Five years of experience in a related occupation is considered necessary to a chef or head cook but on-the-job training should not be necessary for new hires.
The National Center for Education Statistics reports degree data for America’s colleges and universities. There were 1,138 BA degrees granted in personal and culinary arts in 7 programs in June 2012, the last year of complete degree data. These include baking and pastry arts-baker-pastry chef , culinary arts-chef training, restaurant, culinary, and catering management, and meat cutting-meat cutter. Degrees are up from 2006 when 736 finished similar degrees.
The basic wage data from the BLS occupational employment survey includes a wage distribution. Averages are not used much in wage data. A few high wages pull up the average and make it unrepresentative. Instead a distribution range of wages is published with the 10th, 25th, median, 75th, and 90th percentiles of wages. A 10th percentile wage means 10 percent working in this job have wages equal to or less than the 10th percentile wage and so on. Annual wages are converted to hourly wages by dividing annual wages by 2080
The entry wage for the national market in the 10th percentile for chefs and head cooks is reported as $23,150 in 2015. The 25th percentile wage equals $30,840. The median wage is $41,500, the 75th percentile wage equals $57,110 and the 90th percentile wage is $74,170.
The wages of chefs and head cooks have kept up with inflation for the last decade. For example, to have the buying power of the 2006 median wage of $34,670 in 2015, the chefs and head cooks wage would need to be $40,408.09. In stead it was $41,500, a 2.70 percent increase in the real wage for those 9 years.
Some employers pay a salary to their chef employees in lieu of an hourly wage in order to avoid paying overtime at time and a half. For an employer to pay a salary and be exempt from overtime pay the employee must be paid at least $23,660 a year, or $455 a week, and meet the definition of their work defined in the regulations of the Fair Labor Standards Act as amended. The regulations have always included managerial, professional and educational occupations.
When the Fair Labor Standards Act regulations were revised in 2004 by the Bush administration a new list of specific occupations was included as exempt. Chef was on the list. I have given the regulations that define the work of a chef that an employer needs to meet to pay a salary and be exempt from overtime pay if they pay at least $23,660 a year.
Overtime exemption defined for Chefs---Chefs, such as executive chefs and sous chefs, who have attained a four-year specialized academic degree in a culinary arts program, generally meet the duties requirements for the learned professional exemption. The learned professional exemption is not available to cooks who perform predominantly routine mental, manual, mechanical or physical work.
It is common for employers to title and define someone’s employment to fit the overtime exemption definitions, but it can be exploitive, sometimes bluntly so. If a salary is set close to the 10th percentile wage of $23,150 or less it is a real abuse, but less so the closer pay gets to the median of $41,500.
The Obama Administration has raised minimum salary required for exemption from overtime from $23,660 to $47,467. If a chef’s salary is below $47,467 then his employer will have to pay time and half for overtime beginning December 1, 2016 to be in compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act. The only way to avoid paying overtime by paying a salary will be to pay an annual salary more than $47,467.
Standard Occupational Classification #35-1011 Chefs and Head Cooks
SOC Definition - Direct the preparation, seasoning, and cooking of salads, soups, fish, meats, vegetables, desserts, or other foods. May plan and price menu items, order supplies, and keep records and accounts. May participate in cooking. Also known as: Executive Chef; Pastry Chef; Sous Chef
Chefs and head cooks are classified as food preparation and serving related occupations with the majority working in the accommodations and food services industry. For chefs and head cooks 45.1 percent work in full service restaurants, another 7 percent at limited service eating places like cafeterias, grills and buffets, snack and non-alcoholic beverage bars, 10.6 percent in accommodations including traveler accommodations, casino hotels, RV parks and recreational camps, and 6.0 in the amusement, gambling and recreation industry. Education employs 1.5 percent and hospitals about .9 percent and private households 4.9 percent as self-employed chefs.
National employment as chefs and head cooks was 129,370 in 2015. Jobs are up since 2000 when jobs were 122,860. The annual average job increase equals 434 per year since 2000 at a growth rate of .34 percent. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is forecasting job growth for chefs and head cooks of 1,130 per year through 2024 at a growth rate of .85 percent a year.
Job openings make a better measure of new hiring than job growth. Job openings are job growth and the number of net replacements. Net replacements are people who permanently leave an occupation for another occupation or retirement and must be replaced before there can be job growth. Job openings for chefs and head cooks are forecast to be 3,000 a year through 2024.
The recently updated BLS Education and Training Classification assignments list high school diploma or equivalent skills as necessary for entry into jobs as chefs and head cooks. However, percentages from survey data are published for chefs and head cooks showing an educational distribution where 29.2 percent have a high school degree, 17.6 percent have less than a high school degree, 22.5 percent some college, but no degree, 16.9 percent have an associates degree, 12.3 percent have BA degrees, and 1.6 percent have an advanced degree. Five years of experience in a related occupation is considered necessary to a chef or head cook but on-the-job training should not be necessary for new hires.
The National Center for Education Statistics reports degree data for America’s colleges and universities. There were 1,138 BA degrees granted in personal and culinary arts in 7 programs in June 2012, the last year of complete degree data. These include baking and pastry arts-baker-pastry chef , culinary arts-chef training, restaurant, culinary, and catering management, and meat cutting-meat cutter. Degrees are up from 2006 when 736 finished similar degrees.
The basic wage data from the BLS occupational employment survey includes a wage distribution. Averages are not used much in wage data. A few high wages pull up the average and make it unrepresentative. Instead a distribution range of wages is published with the 10th, 25th, median, 75th, and 90th percentiles of wages. A 10th percentile wage means 10 percent working in this job have wages equal to or less than the 10th percentile wage and so on. Annual wages are converted to hourly wages by dividing annual wages by 2080
The entry wage for the national market in the 10th percentile for chefs and head cooks is reported as $23,150 in 2015. The 25th percentile wage equals $30,840. The median wage is $41,500, the 75th percentile wage equals $57,110 and the 90th percentile wage is $74,170.
The wages of chefs and head cooks have kept up with inflation for the last decade. For example, to have the buying power of the 2006 median wage of $34,670 in 2015, the chefs and head cooks wage would need to be $40,408.09. In stead it was $41,500, a 2.70 percent increase in the real wage for those 9 years.
Some employers pay a salary to their chef employees in lieu of an hourly wage in order to avoid paying overtime at time and a half. For an employer to pay a salary and be exempt from overtime pay the employee must be paid at least $23,660 a year, or $455 a week, and meet the definition of their work defined in the regulations of the Fair Labor Standards Act as amended. The regulations have always included managerial, professional and educational occupations.
When the Fair Labor Standards Act regulations were revised in 2004 by the Bush administration a new list of specific occupations was included as exempt. Chef was on the list. I have given the regulations that define the work of a chef that an employer needs to meet to pay a salary and be exempt from overtime pay if they pay at least $23,660 a year.
Overtime exemption defined for Chefs---Chefs, such as executive chefs and sous chefs, who have attained a four-year specialized academic degree in a culinary arts program, generally meet the duties requirements for the learned professional exemption. The learned professional exemption is not available to cooks who perform predominantly routine mental, manual, mechanical or physical work.
It is common for employers to title and define someone’s employment to fit the overtime exemption definitions, but it can be exploitive, sometimes bluntly so. If a salary is set close to the 10th percentile wage of $23,150 or less it is a real abuse, but less so the closer pay gets to the median of $41,500.
The Obama Administration has raised minimum salary required for exemption from overtime from $23,660 to $47,467. If a chef’s salary is below $47,467 then his employer will have to pay time and half for overtime beginning December 1, 2016 to be in compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act. The only way to avoid paying overtime by paying a salary will be to pay an annual salary more than $47,467.
Saturday, June 18, 2016
Jobs in Public Relations
Public Relations Managers and Public Relations Specialists
Standard Occupational Classification #11-2031 Public Relations Managers
Standard Occupational Classification #27-3031 Public Relations Specialists
SOC Definition for Public Relations Managers #11-2031 -- Plan and direct public relations programs designed to create and maintain a favorable public image for employer or client; or if engaged in fundraising, plan and direct activities to solicit and maintain funds for special projects and nonprofit organizations. Also known as: Fundraising Director, Public Information Director, Publicity Director
SOC Definition for Public Relations Specialists #27-3031 – Engage in promoting or creating good will for individuals, groups, or organizations by writing or selecting favorable publicity material and releasing it through various communications media. May prepare and arrange displays, and make speeches. Also known as Account Executive, Communications Director, Communications Specialist, Corporate Communications Specialist, Media Relations Specialist, Public Affairs Specialist, Public Information Officer, Public Information Specialist, Public Relations Coordinator or Specialist
Respond to requests for information from the media. Write press releases or other media communications to promote clients and an organization's accomplishments, agenda, or environmental responsibility. Establish or maintain cooperative relationships with representatives of community, consumer, employee, or interest groups. Coach client representatives in effective communication with the public or with employees. Update and maintain content posted on the Web. Prepare or edit organizational publications, such as employee newsletters or stockholders' reports, for internal or external audiences. Coordinate public responses to management incidents or conflicts.
Public Relations Managers are classified as managerial occupations with 24.2 percent working in the non-profit Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations, 16.6 percent working in Junior Colleges, Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools, 8.2 percent working in Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services, 9.3 percent working in Management of Companies and Enterprises and a scattering of small percents in many industries.
For Public Relations Specialist are classified as Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations with 21.6 percent working in Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations, 9.5 percent working in Junior Colleges, Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools, 14.9 percent working in Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services, 7.3 percent working in hospitals and social assistance, 6.9 percent working in state and local government, excluding education and hospitals and a scattering of small percents in many industries.
National employment as Public Relations Managers was 60,380 in 2015. Jobs are down since 2000 when jobs were 68,000. The annual average job decrease equals 508 per year since 2000 at a growth rate of -.79 percent. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is forecasting job growth for Public Relations Managers at 470 per year through 2024 at a growth rate of .69 percent a year.
National employment as Public Relations Specialists was 218,910 in 2015. Jobs are up since 2000 when jobs were 128,570. The annual average job increase equals 6,023 per year since 2000 at a growth rate of 3.61 percent. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is forecasting job growth for Public Relations Specialists at 14,900 per year through 2024 at a growth rate of .60 percent a year.
Job openings make a better measure of new hiring than job growth. Job openings are job growth and the number of net replacements. Net replacements are people who permanently leave an occupation for another occupation or retirement and must be replaced before there can be job growth. Job openings for Public Relations Managers are forecast to be 610 a year through 2024.
Job openings make a better measure of new hiring than job growth. Job openings are job growth and the number of net replacements. Net replacements are people who permanently leave an occupation for another occupation or retirement and must be replaced before there can be job growth. Job openings for Public Relations Specialists are forecast to be 2,620 a year through 2024.
The recently updated BLS Education and Training Classification assignments lists BA degree skills as necessary for entry into jobs as Public Relations Manager. However, percentages from survey data are published for Public Relations Managers showing an educational distribution where 49.2 percent have a BA degree, 23.6 percent have advanced degrees, 13.9 percent some college, but no degree, and almost 5.6 percent have an associate’s degree. High school skills were sufficient for 7.6 percent who work here and .6 percent have less than a high school degree. Previous experience is considered unnecessary, but moderate on-the-job training is expected to be necessary for new hires.
BA degree skills are necessary for Public Relations Specialists. Percentages from survey data are published for Public Relations Specialists showing an educational distribution where 56.2 percent have a BA degree, 22.4 percent have advanced degrees, 11.2 percent some college, but no degree, and almost 4.3 percent have an associate’s degree. High school skills were sufficient for 5.4 percent who work here and .6 percent have less than a high school degree. Previous experience is considered unnecessary, but moderate on-the-job training is expected to be necessary for new hires.
The National Center for Education Statistics reports degree data for America’s colleges and universities that can be compared with job growth and openings. Relevant BA degree programs include Public relations/image management, advertising, political communication, health communication, public relations, advertising and applied communications specialties. There were 11,126 BA degrees granted in the 5 programs in public relations, advertising and applied communications in June 2013, the last year of complete degree data. These are up slightly from June 2011 when they were 10,027 and June 2012 when they were 9,948. There were also 1,004 MA degrees granted and 11 Ph.D degrees granted in June 2013. The ratio of relevant BA degree to openings equals 3.44, or 11,126/(610+2620), assuring more than three qualified candidates to fill job openings.
The basic wage data from the BLS occupational employment survey includes a wage distribution. Averages are not used much in wage data. A few high wages pull up the average and make it unrepresentative. Instead a distribution range of wages is published with the 10th, 25th, median, 75th, and 90th percentiles of wages. A 10th percentile wage means 10 percent working in this job have wages equal to or less than the 10th percentile wage and so on. Annual wages are converted to hourly wages by dividing annual wages by 2080
The entry wage for the national market in the 10th percentile for Public Relations Manager is reported as $56,890 in 2015. The 25th percentile wage equals $76,000. The median wage is $104,140, the 75th percentile wage equals $147,590 and the 90th percentile wage is $187,200.
The wages of Public Relations Manager have kept up with inflation for the last decade. For example, to have the buying power of the 2008 median wage of $89,430 in 2015, the Public Relations Manager wage would need to be $98,448.40. In stead it was $104,140, a 5.78 percent increase in the real wage for those eight years.
The entry wage for the national market in the 10th percentile for Public Relations Specialist is reported as $31,690 in 2015. The 25th percentile wage equals $41,520. The median wage is $56,770, the 75th percentile wage equals $78,340 and the 90th percentile wage is $110,080.
The wages of Public Relations Specialist have kept up with inflation for the last decade. For example, to have the buying power of the 2008 median wage of $51,280 in 2015, the Public Relations Specialist wage would need to be $56,451.23. In stead it was $56,770, a 0.56 percent increase in the real wage for those eight years.
Standard Occupational Classification #11-2031 Public Relations Managers
Standard Occupational Classification #27-3031 Public Relations Specialists
SOC Definition for Public Relations Managers #11-2031 -- Plan and direct public relations programs designed to create and maintain a favorable public image for employer or client; or if engaged in fundraising, plan and direct activities to solicit and maintain funds for special projects and nonprofit organizations. Also known as: Fundraising Director, Public Information Director, Publicity Director
SOC Definition for Public Relations Specialists #27-3031 – Engage in promoting or creating good will for individuals, groups, or organizations by writing or selecting favorable publicity material and releasing it through various communications media. May prepare and arrange displays, and make speeches. Also known as Account Executive, Communications Director, Communications Specialist, Corporate Communications Specialist, Media Relations Specialist, Public Affairs Specialist, Public Information Officer, Public Information Specialist, Public Relations Coordinator or Specialist
Respond to requests for information from the media. Write press releases or other media communications to promote clients and an organization's accomplishments, agenda, or environmental responsibility. Establish or maintain cooperative relationships with representatives of community, consumer, employee, or interest groups. Coach client representatives in effective communication with the public or with employees. Update and maintain content posted on the Web. Prepare or edit organizational publications, such as employee newsletters or stockholders' reports, for internal or external audiences. Coordinate public responses to management incidents or conflicts.
Public Relations Managers are classified as managerial occupations with 24.2 percent working in the non-profit Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations, 16.6 percent working in Junior Colleges, Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools, 8.2 percent working in Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services, 9.3 percent working in Management of Companies and Enterprises and a scattering of small percents in many industries.
For Public Relations Specialist are classified as Arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations with 21.6 percent working in Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations, 9.5 percent working in Junior Colleges, Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools, 14.9 percent working in Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services, 7.3 percent working in hospitals and social assistance, 6.9 percent working in state and local government, excluding education and hospitals and a scattering of small percents in many industries.
National employment as Public Relations Managers was 60,380 in 2015. Jobs are down since 2000 when jobs were 68,000. The annual average job decrease equals 508 per year since 2000 at a growth rate of -.79 percent. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is forecasting job growth for Public Relations Managers at 470 per year through 2024 at a growth rate of .69 percent a year.
National employment as Public Relations Specialists was 218,910 in 2015. Jobs are up since 2000 when jobs were 128,570. The annual average job increase equals 6,023 per year since 2000 at a growth rate of 3.61 percent. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is forecasting job growth for Public Relations Specialists at 14,900 per year through 2024 at a growth rate of .60 percent a year.
Job openings make a better measure of new hiring than job growth. Job openings are job growth and the number of net replacements. Net replacements are people who permanently leave an occupation for another occupation or retirement and must be replaced before there can be job growth. Job openings for Public Relations Managers are forecast to be 610 a year through 2024.
Job openings make a better measure of new hiring than job growth. Job openings are job growth and the number of net replacements. Net replacements are people who permanently leave an occupation for another occupation or retirement and must be replaced before there can be job growth. Job openings for Public Relations Specialists are forecast to be 2,620 a year through 2024.
The recently updated BLS Education and Training Classification assignments lists BA degree skills as necessary for entry into jobs as Public Relations Manager. However, percentages from survey data are published for Public Relations Managers showing an educational distribution where 49.2 percent have a BA degree, 23.6 percent have advanced degrees, 13.9 percent some college, but no degree, and almost 5.6 percent have an associate’s degree. High school skills were sufficient for 7.6 percent who work here and .6 percent have less than a high school degree. Previous experience is considered unnecessary, but moderate on-the-job training is expected to be necessary for new hires.
BA degree skills are necessary for Public Relations Specialists. Percentages from survey data are published for Public Relations Specialists showing an educational distribution where 56.2 percent have a BA degree, 22.4 percent have advanced degrees, 11.2 percent some college, but no degree, and almost 4.3 percent have an associate’s degree. High school skills were sufficient for 5.4 percent who work here and .6 percent have less than a high school degree. Previous experience is considered unnecessary, but moderate on-the-job training is expected to be necessary for new hires.
The National Center for Education Statistics reports degree data for America’s colleges and universities that can be compared with job growth and openings. Relevant BA degree programs include Public relations/image management, advertising, political communication, health communication, public relations, advertising and applied communications specialties. There were 11,126 BA degrees granted in the 5 programs in public relations, advertising and applied communications in June 2013, the last year of complete degree data. These are up slightly from June 2011 when they were 10,027 and June 2012 when they were 9,948. There were also 1,004 MA degrees granted and 11 Ph.D degrees granted in June 2013. The ratio of relevant BA degree to openings equals 3.44, or 11,126/(610+2620), assuring more than three qualified candidates to fill job openings.
The basic wage data from the BLS occupational employment survey includes a wage distribution. Averages are not used much in wage data. A few high wages pull up the average and make it unrepresentative. Instead a distribution range of wages is published with the 10th, 25th, median, 75th, and 90th percentiles of wages. A 10th percentile wage means 10 percent working in this job have wages equal to or less than the 10th percentile wage and so on. Annual wages are converted to hourly wages by dividing annual wages by 2080
The entry wage for the national market in the 10th percentile for Public Relations Manager is reported as $56,890 in 2015. The 25th percentile wage equals $76,000. The median wage is $104,140, the 75th percentile wage equals $147,590 and the 90th percentile wage is $187,200.
The wages of Public Relations Manager have kept up with inflation for the last decade. For example, to have the buying power of the 2008 median wage of $89,430 in 2015, the Public Relations Manager wage would need to be $98,448.40. In stead it was $104,140, a 5.78 percent increase in the real wage for those eight years.
The entry wage for the national market in the 10th percentile for Public Relations Specialist is reported as $31,690 in 2015. The 25th percentile wage equals $41,520. The median wage is $56,770, the 75th percentile wage equals $78,340 and the 90th percentile wage is $110,080.
The wages of Public Relations Specialist have kept up with inflation for the last decade. For example, to have the buying power of the 2008 median wage of $51,280 in 2015, the Public Relations Specialist wage would need to be $56,451.23. In stead it was $56,770, a 0.56 percent increase in the real wage for those eight years.
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
The New Overtime Rules and the Deceptive Response
The New Overtime Rules and the Deceptive Response
New overtime rules for the Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA) will begin December 1 of this year. Current overtime rules only apply to someone paid a salary equal to or less than $23,660 a year or to someone paid an hourly wage, a decision entirely at the discretion of the employer. FLSA rules calls for pay at a rate of time and a half for hours over forty hours a week. Over time pay gives employers the incentive to hire additional people rather than pay overtime; two people working sixty hours a week equals three people working forty hours a week.
The current overtime pay exemptions date from August 23, 2004 following a substantial revision of Fair Labor Standards regulations by the Bush Administration. The revision added lots of new language that made it easier to exempt executive, administrative and professional employees from overtime pay as long as they work for a salary above $23,660.
The new rules are sometimes called white-collar rules because exemptions to overtime pay have never applied to “manual laborers or other ‘blue collar’ workers who perform work involving repetitive operations with their hands, physical skill and energy.” For example, with the current white collar rules an employee can be denied overtime pay if employed in a bona fide executive, administrative or professional capacity and compensated by salary at a rate of not less than $455 per week ($23,660 a year) exclusive of board, lodging or other facilities, whose primary duty is the performance of office or non-manual work directly related to the management or general business operations of the employer or the employer's customers and whose primary duty includes the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance.
On December 1 the minimum annual salary requirement for overtime pay goes up to $47,476, but does not change the regulations like the one paraphrased above. The new minimum is high enough that some employees previously exempted from - denied - the right to overtime pay will be entitled to it.
Opponents
Business owners, managers and those who identify with business owners and managers will not like the change. It will raise wage costs and lower profits; the changes redistribute income to wage earners at the expense of individual business profits. The people who do not like the policy do not generally mention how much easier it was to avoid paying overtime after the Bush administration revisions of 2004, or how stagnant wages reduce buying power and limit economic growth.
The Department of Labor estimates the new rules will apply to 4.2 million people and if overtime pay raises buying power enough to increase total spending, more production and sales will increase collective business profits. In that way the rules might improve the economy for the larger society but individual businesses will have higher net profits if they can get essential work done by avoiding over time pay.
Opposition comments published in the newspapers (Washington Post, May 21, 2016, “The potential pitfalls of new overtime rule”) and the Internet avoid confronting the redistribution issue or the abuses so common to overtime. The Washington Post article cites the ominous proviso offered by unnamed business groups that “ what workers will probably see a lot less of is flexibility on the job.” … “As an employer, you will have to think about how much time did the person really work … It’s a headache and because it’s a headache, the employer’s first reaction is going to be: ‘No, you can’t work from home. Sorry.’ ”
Beware the deception. Compliance with the FLSA already requires tracking hours worked, whether they are at an office or work from a remote computer. The first sentence of the Fair Labor Standards Act requires that all hours of work will be compensated. Executive, administrative and professional occupations are exempt from overtime pay, but they are entitled to regular pay for work over forty hours a week. Flexibility for salaried people should not turn overtime hours into free work. People who get pressured into working fifty and sixty hours a week who get paid a full time salary based on legally designated full time workweek of forty hours giveaway overtime hours for free.
The Washington Post article cites a lawyer who suggests “some employers may choose to bump workers above the salary threshold, avoiding the problem entirely. But many employees will probably be “re-classified” as hourly workers at which time the number of hours they work might be limited or carefully monitored and tracked.” That translates to some employees can expect reprisals to convince them the new rules are bad for them, as well as business.
These new rules offer modest help to a modest share of working people living on their wages. It is a conservative change, albeit in the right direction, to reduce income inequality. It highlights class conflicts between working people and business owners. Business fights every effort to improve wages as they have here even to the point where low wages are so low they drag down the economy and reduce economic growth. These are new rules, but it’s an old battle.
New overtime rules for the Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA) will begin December 1 of this year. Current overtime rules only apply to someone paid a salary equal to or less than $23,660 a year or to someone paid an hourly wage, a decision entirely at the discretion of the employer. FLSA rules calls for pay at a rate of time and a half for hours over forty hours a week. Over time pay gives employers the incentive to hire additional people rather than pay overtime; two people working sixty hours a week equals three people working forty hours a week.
The current overtime pay exemptions date from August 23, 2004 following a substantial revision of Fair Labor Standards regulations by the Bush Administration. The revision added lots of new language that made it easier to exempt executive, administrative and professional employees from overtime pay as long as they work for a salary above $23,660.
The new rules are sometimes called white-collar rules because exemptions to overtime pay have never applied to “manual laborers or other ‘blue collar’ workers who perform work involving repetitive operations with their hands, physical skill and energy.” For example, with the current white collar rules an employee can be denied overtime pay if employed in a bona fide executive, administrative or professional capacity and compensated by salary at a rate of not less than $455 per week ($23,660 a year) exclusive of board, lodging or other facilities, whose primary duty is the performance of office or non-manual work directly related to the management or general business operations of the employer or the employer's customers and whose primary duty includes the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance.
On December 1 the minimum annual salary requirement for overtime pay goes up to $47,476, but does not change the regulations like the one paraphrased above. The new minimum is high enough that some employees previously exempted from - denied - the right to overtime pay will be entitled to it.
Opponents
Business owners, managers and those who identify with business owners and managers will not like the change. It will raise wage costs and lower profits; the changes redistribute income to wage earners at the expense of individual business profits. The people who do not like the policy do not generally mention how much easier it was to avoid paying overtime after the Bush administration revisions of 2004, or how stagnant wages reduce buying power and limit economic growth.
The Department of Labor estimates the new rules will apply to 4.2 million people and if overtime pay raises buying power enough to increase total spending, more production and sales will increase collective business profits. In that way the rules might improve the economy for the larger society but individual businesses will have higher net profits if they can get essential work done by avoiding over time pay.
Opposition comments published in the newspapers (Washington Post, May 21, 2016, “The potential pitfalls of new overtime rule”) and the Internet avoid confronting the redistribution issue or the abuses so common to overtime. The Washington Post article cites the ominous proviso offered by unnamed business groups that “ what workers will probably see a lot less of is flexibility on the job.” … “As an employer, you will have to think about how much time did the person really work … It’s a headache and because it’s a headache, the employer’s first reaction is going to be: ‘No, you can’t work from home. Sorry.’ ”
Beware the deception. Compliance with the FLSA already requires tracking hours worked, whether they are at an office or work from a remote computer. The first sentence of the Fair Labor Standards Act requires that all hours of work will be compensated. Executive, administrative and professional occupations are exempt from overtime pay, but they are entitled to regular pay for work over forty hours a week. Flexibility for salaried people should not turn overtime hours into free work. People who get pressured into working fifty and sixty hours a week who get paid a full time salary based on legally designated full time workweek of forty hours giveaway overtime hours for free.
The Washington Post article cites a lawyer who suggests “some employers may choose to bump workers above the salary threshold, avoiding the problem entirely. But many employees will probably be “re-classified” as hourly workers at which time the number of hours they work might be limited or carefully monitored and tracked.” That translates to some employees can expect reprisals to convince them the new rules are bad for them, as well as business.
These new rules offer modest help to a modest share of working people living on their wages. It is a conservative change, albeit in the right direction, to reduce income inequality. It highlights class conflicts between working people and business owners. Business fights every effort to improve wages as they have here even to the point where low wages are so low they drag down the economy and reduce economic growth. These are new rules, but it’s an old battle.
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