Downturn’s Ugly Trademark: Steep, Lasting Drop in Wages

From the WALL STREET JOURNAL:

…Between 2007 and 2009, more than half the full-time workers who lost jobs that they had held for at least three years and then found new full-time work by early last year reported wage declines, according to the Labor Department. Thirty-six percent reported the new job paid at least 20% less than the one they lost.

More than eight million Americans lost their jobs during the recent recession. Many are returning to the workforce–but in jobs that pay them far less than they used to earn. WSJ’s Jason Bellini reports.

The severity of the latest downturn makes it likely that many of the unemployed who get rehired will take wage cuts, and that it will be years, if ever, before many of their wages return to pre-recession levels, says Columbia University labor economist Till von Wachter. “The deeper the recession, the lower the wage you’re going to get in the next job and the lower the quality of your next job,” he says…

Click here to read the full article.

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