THE JOYLESS RECOVERY: A way of life fades away as wages fall

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"Make no mistake, in many ways Michigan is still a powerhouse state. It enjoys a concentration of automotive research and production facilities unmatched in the world. It boasts a 5-million person workforce, world-class universities, enough electoral votes to draw political candidates like bees, and opportunities for recreation that make a Michigan summer idyllic." "But for all its advantages, the state bleeds from multiple wounds. Thirty years ago, Michigan's median household income ranked among the highest in the nation; now it struggles to keep pace with the U.S. average. Over the past 12 months, Michigan's average weekly manufacturing wages grew less than 1 percent, while inflation has been running at around 3 percent. In real terms, Michigan workers are falling behind."

But the good news is that Montemurr in the same Detroit Free Press reports that "Anti-abortion Catholics can support pro-choice candidates, as long as they agree with the candidate on a range of other issues. That pronouncement in an Italian magazine from Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Vatican's top spokesman on Catholic teachings,"


http://www.freep.com/money/business/jobs7e_20040907.htm

THE JOYLESS RECOVERY: A way of life fades away as wages fall

Michigan struggles with big job losses; political clout erodes
September 7, 2004 BY JOHN GALLAGHER
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER Second in a series.

Antwain Standifer, Howard Scott and Melvin Dancy walked a picket line in Royal Oak last week to protect a storied way of life fading away for many Michiganders.

That life involves a working-class job with middle-class pay and benefits, good enough to afford a place Up North, a fishing boat in the garage, and trips to Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon or Disney World.

All across Michigan, that sort of life is threatened by wages that are flatlining or declining -- and experts disagree on what to do about it.

At the very least, wage growth in Michigan has been lagging behind most other states for decades. In 1969, Michigan's median household income was 18 percent above the national average. By 2003 the figure was less than 4 percent above the national average and still dropping, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.<snip>

Paychecks usually grow as the economy expands after a recession, and that's why some economists have dubbed this a "joyless recovery," which it has certainly become for Standifer, Scott and Dancy.<snip>