#wage-share-decline

#wage-share-decline

If the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, I'll be happy if they only stayed at $4 a gallon. This situation is bound to impact budgets for commuters significantly.

"Men's time doing housework is about the same as it was in the 1970s, and that's true whether or not the woman earns more money or the man earns more money."

One way is to increase income taxes. There's also the option for an annual or one-off wealth tax on everything someone has above a certain mark. A few governments want to tax extreme wealth to lower taxes on a stagnating middle class or to make up for social inequality.

Within the workplace, the content and conditions of work are largely controlled by employers who often have an interest in degrading the quality of work, both to increase productivity and to increase their control over employees in the workplace. Outside the workplace, employers have both an incentive and the power to undermine measures that would improve the quality of work through the political process.

"The wealthy who are at financial risk are high earners whose lack of budgeting and profligate spending has them overleveraged and exposed. While they appear to be doing well from the outside, they are only a step away from real financial trouble."

Work, in the words of Karl Marx, is a "means of life" in two senses. It is, first of all, an instrument for human life. It is the activity by which we reproduce ourselves from day to day, from year to year, from generation to generation. But work also forms, so to speak, much of the matter of human life, at least for most people in any society with which we are familiar.

Typical of Trump, he is boasting about the performance of the U.S. economy in the most hyperbolic terms. He even declared that his economy is 'the greatest ever in history' in a recent interview on Fox Business Network. He points to the stock market and allegedly low inflation to back his claim.

Less than 40% of employees received a bonus last year, down from 44% in 2021. And in 2024, the average bonus payout was $1,786, down from $1,857 a year earlier, according to the study. That's not the only pay-related trend to watch in 2026. Pay transparency will also be a hot topic this year, said ADP Chief Talent Officer Jay Caldwell. In June, counties in the European Union will be required to comply with new pay transparency laws, mandating salary disclosures in job advertisements (much like many U.S. states).

A friend recently told me a story that made this reality impossible to ignore. Her elderly parents live near an elementary school not far from the nation's capital. For several years, they had been quietly raising money to provide groceries and basic supplies for families whose children were going hungry. When Republicans suspended SNAP benefits, the need surged overnight. What had been a steady act of care suddenly became an emergency response.

Perks have vanished, in-office mandates are on the rise, and layoffs continue even as profits hold up - changes that reflect a system that prioritizes shareholder returns over stakeholder capitalism and corporate loyalty. With job openings thinning, wages struggling to keep pace with inflation, and AI looming as a threat to entire occupations, the recalibration is altering how advancement and compensation are determined inside companies.