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STOCKTON RECORD 2005 CALIFORNIA WAGE DIVIDE WIDENS Stockton Record, September 5, 2005
Labor Day has been organized labor's way to celebrate the American worker since 1882, when it was first celebrated in New York City. Today in San Joaquin County, people in a variety of jobs will celebrate the holiday with the day off. But in terms of wages, this Labor Day finds area dentists with the biggest smiles. The gap between high earners and the wages of the traditional working class characterizes this year's Labor Day, and it's only getting wider, according to two research findings from the University of California, Berkeley, and the California Budget Project. "Lower-paid jobs are growing; higher-paid jobs are shrinking," said Ken Jacobs of the Center for Labor Research and Education at UC Berkeley. "Overall in terms of the wage picture, it's not a positive one." In a separate report, The California Budget Project Executive Director Jean Ross declared: "We're seeing a growing divide between high- and low-wage earners and a growing segment of California that is struggling to make ends meet." In San Joaquin County, state figures show 270,300 people were employed in the labor force in July. Here, dentists are the top-paid wage-earning occupation, with half of all dentists making more than $81.36 per hour, according to the state's Employment Development Department's figures for the first quarter of 2005. Internists ranked second, earning a mean wage of $75.42 per hour, followed by chief executives at $68.77 per hour. Deep into the seven-page list are the wages of a typical union worker. Plumbers, pipefitters or steamfitters made a mean hourly wage of $20.77, while carpenters earned $19.05, machinists $18.32 and cement masons $15.34 per hour. At the bottom of the list are dining room/cafeteria attendants and bartenders at a mean hourly wage of $7.74, outearned even by dishwashers and fast-food cooks at $7.78. "Real wages have declined the last two years," said Jacobs, who noted that jobs in lower-paying food-service and retail areas have grown faster than in higher-paying professional and managerial jobs. Jacobs said the prospects for a turnaround could depend on the state Legislature passing Assembly Bill 48, which increases the minimum wage from $6.75 to $7.25 in 2006 and to $7.75 by January 2007. He also said improvement also hinges on the success of unions to grow its membership rolls. Currently, 16 percent of the state's workers are covered by unions. Nationwide, the number has fallen to 12.2 percent. "We're energized and ready to fight back," said Andrea Colavita-Pinkham, the political organizer for the Service Employees International Union Local 790 in the San Joaquin Valley. "America's workers are deeply dissatisfied with the economy," Colavita-Pinkham said. "Stagnant incomes means an inability to keep up with rising costs. It's created real economic anxiety for working families." Everett Johnson, a field representative for the International Laborers Union, Local 73, agreed. "With the cost of living, and the cost of gas now, it just kills us," Johnson said. Contact reporter Emil Guillermo at 209 546-8294 or eguiller@recordnet.com |
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