Wages

by Daniel Wortel-London

The daily news regularly features commentary about the outrageous and growing income inequality in the USA. The data support the outrage:

• In 1965, the CEO-to-worker salary ratio at the average U.S. company was 21-to-1. Today that ratio is 344-to-1.
• In 2022, CEO pay at 100 S&P 500 companies averaged $15.3 million, while median worker pay averaged only $31, 672, according to an Institute of Policy Studies analysis.

The post Introducing the Salary Cap Act appeared first on Center for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy.

Gabija Zemaityte and Danny Walker Inflation has been high in many countries since 2021. Some have said that companies have increased their profits over that period: so-called ‘greedflation’. We use published company accounts for thousands of large listed companies to look for signs of increased profits in the data. Consistent with previous analysis of aggregate … Continue reading Profits in a time of inflation: what do company accounts say in the UK and euro area? →

We run down wages, workforces, and rent hikes. Illustrated by Kay Sohini.

City comes out in solidarity with workers resisting continued Tory attack on their class, wages, rights and living standards As striking workers around the country – including teachers, nurses, rail workers, civil servants, posties and more – enjoyed high levels of public support today despite the spin and slant of the ‘mainstream’ media, thousands turned […]

With the federal government is increasing its temporary wage subsidy to 75%, other reforms are needed to ensure the public funding goes to maintain workers, and not pad the profits of businesses.  In the face of the COVID19 crisis, the Canadian government has done a very good job of both limiting the spread of the virus and putting in place [...]

The federal government has announced it is prepared to pay wages subsidies of up to 75% of employee wages for all private businesses and other employers, including non-profits, partnerships and charities that expect a 30% drop in revenues, up to a maximum of $847/worker per week and $11,011 over the three months.  The previously announced 10% wage subsidy was only available [...]

“They offer nothing and destroy everything”. Dangers for Sierra Leone’s people are growing – but the drivers of the situation will not be unfamiliar to UK readers Skwawkbox has received the article below, written by a Sierra Leonean journalist whose name is withheld because of the risk of reprisals. For me the year 2022 has […]

There are four economic wildcards between now and the election, and we know exactly when each will be played.

The first is this Wednesday at 11.30am eastern time, when we get the official update on inflation. We’re likely to see a figure so large it will take many of us back to the 1990s, to a time before anyone under 30 was born.

With the exception of a short-lived blip following the introduction of the goods and services tax in 2000, inflation has scarcely been above 5% since 1990.

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At the risk of being political – and politics is important, it will determine how we are governed for the next three years – economic conditions could scarcely be better for a government seeking re-election.

The economic things that matter most to most people are, in my view:

• jobs – if employment is climbing rather than falling, most people are not at much risk of losing their job

• economic growth and wages growth – if things are getting better rather than worse, even in small ways, people feel better about the future

• the ability to buy a home – if it is getting hard, even for other people or for their children, they are concerned about what the future will become

• mortgage rates – as long as rates stay low they know their own personal budget won’t go out of whack