March 4, 2013
NOT COINCIDENTALLY...:
Recovery in U.S. Is Lifting Profits, but Not Adding Jobs (NELSON D. SCHWARTZ, 3/04/13, NY Times)
With millions still out of work, companies face little pressure to raise salaries, while productivity gains allow them to increase sales without adding workers. [...]As a percentage of national income, corporate profits stood at 14.2 percent in the third quarter of 2012, the largest share at any time since 1950, while the portion of income that went to employees was 61.7 percent, near its lowest point since 1966. In recent years, the shift has accelerated during the slow recovery that followed the financial crisis and ensuing recession of 2008 and 2009, said Dean Maki, chief United States economist at Barclays.Corporate earnings have risen at an annualized rate of 20.1 percent since the end of 2008, he said, but disposable income inched ahead by 1.4 percent annually over the same period, after adjusting for inflation.
...those of us with jobs seek to take ever more of our compensation in the form of contributions to accounts where we hold stocks.
Posted by Orrin Judd at March 4, 2013 4:25 PM
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