The Washington Times
  • Subscribe
  • RSS
  • Mobile Headlines
  • e-edition
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • REGISTER
  • LOG IN
  • E-MAIL ALERTS
  • WELCOME
  • Your Profile
  • Log Out
  • Front Page Image
  • Classifieds
  • Autos
  • Real Estate
  • Jobs
  • Special Sections
  • Customer Service
  • Home
  • News
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Commentary
    • Columns
    • Water Cooler
    • Letters
    • Cartoons
    • Books
  • Sports
  • Culture
    • Home & Living
    • Family & Kids
    • Travel
    • Health
    • Washington Visitors
    • Books
    • Auto
    • TV Listings
    • Movie Listings
    • Death Notices
    • Entertainment
  • Communities
  • Rebate Shopping
    • Stores
    • Coupons
    • Daily Double
    • Promotion
    • How It Works
  • Photos
  • Podcasts
    • About Headlines
    • Audio and Radio
    • America's Morning News
  • World

    Gitmo suspects allowed laptops while in custody

  • Politics

    Health-vote ally Nelson to get new VA hospital for Nebraska

  • National

    Poll finds stubborn suspicion of census

  • National

    PRUDEN: The Democrats descend into the twilight zone

  • National

    Blockbuster chain mulls bankruptcy

  • Politics

    Bachmann: Pelosi has 'eternity' to get votes

  • Politics

    Price tag in hand, Dems prepare for final health care vote

Wednesday, July 21, 2004

Greenspan frets over disparity in wages

Rate this story

Average 0.00
after 0 votes
Login or register to rate this story

  • Font Size -+
  • Print
  • Email
  • Comment
  • Tweet this!
  • Share
  • Article
  • Comments ()
  • Click-2-Listen

More Stories

  • Democrats make final reform push
  • Poll finds stubborn suspicion of census
  • Elvis shakes up press again at Newseum
  • Health-vote ally Nelson to get new VA hospital for Nebraska

By

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan weighed into the political debate on jobs yesterday, saying the disparity between top income-earners and hourly workers is getting worse.

Mr. Greenspan also argued passionately for action to address chronically high joblessness among blacks, which he called a "failure of our society" that is partly due to discrimination, in testimony before the House Financial Services Committee.

The answer to problems of joblessness, the focus of a partisan war all year, is to increase education and skills so that workers can qualify for the good-paying but highly technical jobs being created in the economy, he said.

"We do have problems with the distribution of income," he said. "The skill premium for skilled workers versus lesser-skilled continues to widen.

"Real wages have been rising," he said, but "there's been a disproportionate rise in the 20 percent of payrolls which were supervisory workers," who have higher qualifications, while the wages of hourly workers have "barely budged."

Mr. Greenspan lent credibility to the Democratic argument that employers have had to devote much of their increase in compensation in the past year to skyrocketing health insurance premiums and pension costs -- leaving workers with few real gains.

Adding fuel to the Democrats' fire, Mr. Greenspan noted that corporations have been devoting an unusually large share of their income to profits rather than wages, though he predicted that would not continue.

Mr. Greenspan disputed Democratic arguments, however, that the 1.4 million jobs created in the past year are of lower quality and offer lower pay and benefits than the 3 million jobs lost during the recession, saying he has seen no "meaningful" evidence of that.

The problem, Mr. Greenspan said, is the skills of workers who have lost jobs in manufacturing and other areas do not match the increasingly "technological" requirements for better-paying jobs, such as in health care and education, so many of them have had to take lower-paying service jobs.

"This I believe is an education issue," he said, urging Congress to address the problem "as quickly and broadly as we can."

12Next »

Post a comment

There are comments on this article, submit your opinion!

Commenting is disabled for this entry.
If you feel there is still something worth mentioning about this entry please contact the author or the site admin.

Top Stories

Most Shared

  1. EDITORIAL: Obama surrenders gulf oil to Moscow
  2. Obama endorses immigration blueprint
  3. KOFFMAN: A prescription for life or death?
  4. EDITORIAL: Obama's medical horror stories
  5. CBO feels crush of health care requests
More Top Stories »
  1. Medical pot lights up D.C. debate
  2. EDITORIAL: Obama nominee's sympathy for sexual sadists
  3. KUHNER: Impeach the president?
  4. WOLF: Obama family health care fracas
  5. Feds defend $450K for art, design shows

Most Commented

  1. EDITORIAL: Obama surrenders gulf oil to Moscow
  2. Obama endorses immigration blueprint
  3. Tehran aiding al Qaeda links, Petraeus says
  4. Kucinich will vote for health care reform
  5. CBO feels crush of health care requests
More Top Stories »
  1. EDITORIAL: Obama's medical horror stories
  2. Group condemns textbooks about Islam
  3. Obama dismisses procedural tactics
  4. Price tag in hand, Dems prepare for final health care vote
  5. White House urged to end Israel row on settlements

Listen to Washington Times Radio

  • America's Morning News

    with John McCaslin

Blogs & Columns

  • Water Cooler

    Video - Coburn to House members: We will expose any sweetheart deals for votes

  • Belief Blog

    Sayonara to the president's faith-based council

  • Technology

    Ordering iPad is painless, except for the wallet hit

Advertising Links
TWT Store
  • e-edition
  • Print Edition
  • Weekly Washington Times
TWT Affiliates
  • Middle East Times
  • Golf
  • UPI
  • Arbor Ballroom
  • Washington Times Global
  • About TWT
  • Press Room
  • F.A.Q.
  • Work for TWT
  • Advertise
  • Sponsors
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site Map

All site contents © Copyright 2009 The Washington Times, LLC.