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Low wages push some out of job market
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(AP photo)
Danielle Pierre waits in line to talk with a prospective employer at the recent job fair in New York. They are called “discouraged workers” — experienced workers who have walked away from the job market, discouraged by low-paying jobs. By doing so, they are no longer counted among the state’s unemployed. That, in turn, artificially reduces the unemployment numbers. Many once lived in two-income households but now coexist on one. “The salaries here in Maryland were not commensurate with what I made in New Jersey,” said Amy Bibb, a social worker licensed in New Jersey. “When I looked for work here, the offers were $15 per hour. I wondered if they had even looked at my resume and curriculum vitae,” Bibb said. “I had my [Master of Social Work degree] and two post-graduate certificates and was making $40 an hour in New Jersey. When I looked at the pay they were offering, it was not worth my time when I factored in child care and transportation. The salaries were better in D.C., but with a young child, the commute was a deterrent. I was fortunate that we could exist on my husband’s salary, but if something happens to him, then it’s a new ballgame.” Nationally, the U.S. Department of Labor reports that in May, more than 52,000 discouraged workers walked away from the job market due to low wages. Maryland does not track its discouraged workers, said Linda Sherman, spokeswoman for the state Department of Labor, License and Regulation. “Many of those workers were professionals with many years of experience. When you look at a national unemployment rate of 4.5 percent, that number is very deceiving,” said Jill Jenkins, chief economist for the Employment Policies Institute, a D.C. research group. “When you look at real wages being paid and adjust for inflation, salaries are less than what they were 15 to 20 years ago,” said James Parrott, chief economist with the Fiscal Policy Institute in New York. “For workers in the median hourly wage, persons in the middle-income distribution, salaries have actually declined by 10 to 15 percent since 1990, and that is discouraging many people from the job market,” he said. “The wages being offered aren’t rising to keep pace with rising prices. Employers are squeezing out potential salary increase wages to pay for health benefits and not salary increases.” rchappelle@baltimoreexaminer.com |
