What’s happened to the “Middle Class”? According to the BLS cumulative inflation since 1970 is 500+%!

What’s happened to the “Middle Class”? 

According to the BLS cumulative inflation since 1970 is 500+%!

This is a series of Talent Stories from 2017 you may have missed.  
I find much of this very disturbing, even shocking. 

What are your thoughts?? 

It now takes $641.73 to buy what $100 did in 1970, or 541.73% inflation!  This is not the Consumer Price Index (CPI) we all read about.

In my validity check, economists agree.

Most have pegged inflation at 10% ± since the ‘50s.

Is a 542% inflation rate shocking to see on a page?

Unfortunately, Harvard Business Review  reports wages have only increased ± .2% per year over the same period; or, 12.5% actual for the same period of time.

This explains much of the erosion of the middle class….

People simply can’t afford middle class anymore!

The government reported CPI  has been a result of statistical manipulation for half a century.

This makes inflation look acceptable and keep the CPI low, the basis for most wage increases;

However, THIS AS A HUGE U.S. TALENT/PEOPLE (WORKER) PROBLEM‼

 

Corporate profits and U.S. worker productivity are at historical all-time highs.
Economic Policy Institute report’s indicate wage growth has been systematically negated!          The churn created by low wages and lack of opportunity costs the U.S. $1½ - 2 Trillion (2012 dollars) per year; and,

These statistics pertain to all but certain STEM and upper most corporate positions, not just first line people.

This results in more and ever increasing restriction on budgets, wages, benefits, talent attraction and retention.

How much more profitable could businesses become if they really questioned the current employment status quo?

      Next: Google has a solution for the lack of talent?

U.S. unemployment is actually 25 – 30+%, representing a huge hidden talent pool! Where are the jobs?

This is the first in a series of Talent Stories from 2017 you may have missed.

I find some of this very disturbing, even shocking.

What are your thoughts??

According to Morningside Hill actual total U.S. unemployment was closer to 25 - 30%!

 This is not the BLS U-3 rate of 4.1% or the U-6 rate of 7.9%, but the continuation of lowest labor participation rates in modern times.

Today’s employment is not remotely like the mid-‘80s.

However, the Bureau of Labor and Statistics’ calculation and reports are based in the 1980’s Reagan era model.

Today’s “gig” economy and the acceleration of part-time, contractual and contingent workforce has neither been accounted for nor factored into BLS reporting. 

For those not following the U.S. employment market, some of the most enlightening and perplexing Morningside points were:

1.   A person laid off from a living wage job gets counted as 1 unemployed; however,

2.   If a person replaces the lost job with 3 part-time jobs it is counted as 3 new jobs.

3.   The bizarre Reagan era BLS “birth / death rate” adjustment  accounts for 93% of all jobs created since 2008; but,

4.   According to Quartz almost all new jobs (10,000,000) created 2005 – 2015 were part-time temporary alternative gigs.

If 25 – 30% unemployment is correct, it looks more realistic than the published U-3 rate of 4.1%. 

Is anyone following the surge of homelessness?

How does high unemployment align with business’s understanding of the “Talent Gap” crisis? 

In today’s “Talent Gap” era this is a vast untapped talent resource for those who understand it and can harness it.

Did you know less than 20% of the U.S. talent market is actually looking?

However, nearly all talent (100%) would welcome contact for a new position!

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