Two Economies: Big Money vs. Average Worker

In response to Michael Gerson's column, I talked below about the big picture economic issues.   Robert Reich continues along that line here:

America's two economies are getting wider apart.

The Big Money economy is booming. According to a new Commerce Department report, third-quarter profits of American businesses rose at an annual record-breaking $1.659 trillion -- besting even the boom year of 2006 (in nominal dollars). Profits have soared for seven consecutive quarters now, matching or beating their fastest pace in history.

Executive pay is linked to profits, so top pay is soaring as well.

Higher profits are also translating into the nice gains in the stock market, which is a boon to everyone with lots of financial assets.

And Wall Street is back. Bonuses on the Street are expected to rise about 5 percent this year, according to a survey by compensation consultants Johnson Associates Inc..

But nothing is trickling down to the Average Worker economy. Job growth is still anemic. At October's rate of only 50,000 new private-sector jobs, unemployment won't get down to pre-recession levels for twenty years. And almost half of October's new jobs were in temporary help.

Meanwhile, the median wage is barely rising, adjusted for inflation. And the value of the major asset of most Americans- - their homes -- continues to drop.

So why is this happening?

Two reasons. First, big profits are coming from overseas sales of goods and services made abroad, not here. The world's fastest-growing markets are China and India, whose inhabitants are eager to buy "American" products, and just as eager to work for the American companies that sell them. The U.S. market is barely moving.

Increasingly, American corporations are able to extract healthy gains from their global operations without adding much in the United States except executive talent.

Second, American businesses are boosting productivity by having U.S. employees do more work for less pay. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, between the third quarter of 2009 and the third quarter of 2010, productivity rose 2.5 percent, output increased 4.1 percent, the number of hours worked was up 1.6 percent, and unit labor costs dropped by 1.9 percent.

In other words, American workers are losing even more bargaining power as a sizable chunk of corporate profit goes into software and digital equipment that can do what people used to do -- but more cheaply.

I don't believe that there are any easy answer to this. But, unlike Gerson, I don't think that the fundamental solution lies in family, education and other important cultural issues, as important as those are. If an engineering graduate from NC State can't find a job because the manufacturing has moved offshore, then that has nothing to do with that person's family or marriage or education.