Median wage of manufacturing workers declines in the U.S.

[Skeeter Barnes]

BY DIANE STAFFORDTHE KANSAS CITY STAR
11/21/2014 10:56 AM 11/21/2014 5:24 PM


More than 600,000 U.S. manufacturing workers earn less than $9.60 an hour, and 1.5 million — or one-fourth of all manufacturing workers — make $11.91 or less, according to an analysis released Friday.

The National Employment Law Project said that manufacturing jobs — once considered the solid source of middle-class income — increasingly are paying wages that can barely support a family.

The report said that for 30 years, from 1976 to 2006, U.S. manufacturing workers were paid a median wage that was above the U.S. pay median. That manufacturing advantage peaked in the mid-1980s.

By 2013, the median manufacturing wage was 7.7 percent lower than the median U.S. wage for all public and private sector workers, according to the Census Bureau’s survey data.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/business/workplace/article4046994.html

At the same time, local, state and Federal governments are giving away billions in tax breaks and other incentives to these businesses who are paying their workers less and less.

[Socal31]

1. I couldn't even have my own apartment and eat on $12/hr

And this article mentions raising a family on less?

Yikes.