And you can zones media cspanal us an journal at cspan cspan. Org. Bigger to be the year of wage gains and its not. Neil erwin, thank you for joining us. Thank you for having me. Host what happened . Its funny, the unemployment dropping. S we saw it fall 5. 1 in august. Employers said theyre having trouble recruiting workers and increased wages, n minimum walmart and mcdonalds. What is usually happening in 5. 1 there these seems to be a shadow workforce out there and people who left force entirely during the recession and have not come back yet. That adds up to millions of who might be available to come to work but arent technically unemployed because actively looking for those d the existence of people maybe the reason. Host we saw new numbers on friday. Did we learn anything new about are earning . S little bit. It was a pretty good month. Average earnings rose 0. 2 . Hats a little step up and especially over the last year when we have seen low Inflation Oil prices alling thatalling gasoline prices is a substantial gain. 2 and bouncing around with wage growth of about 2 for quite some time. There is no sign of breaking out accelerating. Once the inflation trend passes through and oil prices arent anymore, that may go away. Did you mentioned wages grow by about 2 so were seeing wages increase yet we hear talk about wage stagnation. What is the difference . What you want to see people getting raises after adjusting inflation. You want real wage increases. Rising 2 , then you need more than 2 wage rowth in order for people to feel any better. 2 doesnt matter if you make if everything you buy is 2 more expensive. You want is inflation 2 or 4 wage growth. Host are there other factors talking that might be influencing how much americans are taking home. Its complicated. Wages is a complicated mess of things. There are regulatory issues. Ere starting to see some minimum wage increases, will that start to creep into the in increases, especially for people at the low middle end of the pay spectrum. Things eing a lot of that might shape the dynamic of wages in the o future. Host talk about how big of a terms of play now in compensation. Yee you also receive health enefits and Vacation Time and might receive a pension or 401 k or retirement. Those are forms of compensation. Those are ways your employer is paying you for the work you do. A broad look at compensation involves more than just whats wages. Paycheck and data at said, there is a set called the employment compensation index. Thats similar showing a trend. The year ends in june and that rose about 2 . Wrap all that other stuff in, health benefits, you still pay rising about 2 a year. Host bottom line for workers who are watching our show, what they expect in terms of what their earnings will look like coming year or two. The good news this falling even with this slack in the labor force and hadow workforce that works in their favor. Employers a few years ago when reallyyment was 10 they had the upper hand in any kind of pay negotiation. Your job, t like they could tell you to shove it and there werent many other jobs out there. The case anymore. Weve been adding a couple hundred jobs a month or a couple we have and Unemployment Rate at 5. 1 in august. Levels that suggest even with these other issues of people having left the labor force, those are numbers suggest a more of an upper hand for workers and more negotiations. Hose so you dont feel like youre being paid fairly. Neil erwin, a reporter for the New York Times. Thank you so much for joining us. Thanks. Host we are discussing this americas wages. Rise or seen your wages fall. You can call us and let us know. Eastern time or 2027488001. And andle is cspan wj facebook. Com cspan or journal o an cspan. Org. That president ts barack obama on monday will sign order requiring federal contractors to give sick leave. And posing new companies. On the actions will give about federal mployees a contractors the chance to earn seven days of paid sick leave. Officials told the wall street journal that additional workers to more sick ss days and employees would be allowed to use the paid leave to for themselves or family members. Any cost to the Companies Offering paid sick leave of federal contractors would be offset by attrition and royalty efficiency. Now, on thursday, the u. S. Commerce chief economist talked about the state of the labor market in a speech in washington, d. C. Heres what he had to say. Labor market has really in senses recovered and in other senses not recovered. Weve seen the Unemployment Rate and weve seen the total number of jobs hit its prior peak. Weve seen the rateloyment the normal unemployment is 5. 3 and i suspect it will edge down a little bit more tomorrow morning. Well see 200, 210,000 jobs on the job numbers and thats good. That number doesnt mean exactly it did a few years ago because we have a huge amount of underemployment. If you look at the Unemployment Rate and under employment rate you see that number has come hasnt come down nywhere as near as much as it should. So we have an under Employment Situation where we have people hat are working parttime for economic reasons. He economic reason that they cant find a fulltime job and that number is down but not down where it should be. This is the story of our economy. Its good. Its okay. Its just not as good it should be. And that was martin the employment rate in america. We are taking your phone calls on this labor day mondaabout wages. Have you seen them rise or fall. Our first caller comes from rio new mexico and thats john. Thank america for the ability to call cspan the reatest Radio Program in the free world. Host all right, john. What are your thoughts this morning. Your wages rise or fall . 2008 ave to go back to when the housing crash came. Working as a r decided to go d back to college and get a degree. College back in may and havent been able to find a job. Applying everywhere and doing the normal stuff that people do and have a lot of good sales ground prior to obtaining a graduating at d age 52. But when youre over 50, they at you like youre unemployable. But ive got excellent computer skills, excellent communication skills. I would say my i havent seen any wages. Host did you see did you the your job in 2008 when risis happened and the housing bubble burst. Caller yes, maam. Host have you been able to find any employment . Have not. I truly have not. I have a son thats going to just go out every week. Today is monday ill go to the Unemployment Office and see i look at ther computers before i go and print stuff out. Make some calls and do some stuff on monday and try to get a job. But its bad out there. This 5 ee unemployment. Ive been struggling trying to summer and all thats been offered is Straight Commission selling cars and i wont do that. Wont do that. Have a good show. Host thats john from new mexico. Next caller is gretchen from connecticut. Good morning to you. Situation like in connecticut . Caller good morning. Lost a job after a 14 year worked making very decent money. Degree and thes cut in myy is 42 pay next hire. So im not seeing what im hearing on this radio show this morning. Right. All no recovery yet for gretchen in connecticut. Caller is john from spring, texas. Youre on the air. Yes, my salary is becoming stable and hasnt gone in the last 4 or 5 years and thats my situation let you know. Host what kind of industry do you work in, john . Im in the oil business. Host now oil has seen a big boom. Benefit at all when we production . D energy caller it went up a little bit fluctuated. Host okay. Thats john from spring, texas. Twitter. Ments now from one commenter writes, the real uestion should be are your wages effective today as they 20 years ago. Price increases lower effective wage rate. Our next caller is karl from virginia. Good morning to you. Caller good morning. Y wages went way down because at one time i was an iron worker wages. King damn good but my boss started hiring these and i om el salvador guess i was getting a little old and losing the step and he told said, jorge can do your job a lot faster than you what im third of paying you. O, i had to come up here in West Virginia and get a job riving school bus which my wages went way down. But i was glad to get out of the rat race. It is, if they keep bringing these kids up here mexico and el salvador it ill spell disaster for everybody because theyre driving the wages down to the live on re you cant them. I hope trump does something about that when he gets to be president. Thank you. Host all right. Thats karl from berkeley West Virginia. A few more comments about health care. One writes, after obamacare my wages went down and another out there, i didnt get a raise. My corporation took away paying healthcare. This story in the washington has a little bit of a different angle. Headline is companies have found something to give their workers instead of raises. Goes on to report, once the staple of the american into a e its turning elic of the pre crisis economy as they come up with cheaper to employees. Perks such ling out as gym membership and pet Health Insurance. Often they are being rovided in lieu of higher salaries. Ompanies say they are catering to a growing workforce who want flexibility over security and award star mployees without permanently i creasing costs. Jane from holiday, florida is our next caller. You. Morning to caller yes. Good morning. Show and ng on the with your question let me just background. Ittle im 58 years old. Host go ahead, jane. On the ear you, youre air. Caller just a little background. Im 58 years old and three years ago i had an accident and broke my job nd had to leave which was a contractor job. Selfemployed and i was making 12 an hour and the workforce to now im making minimum wage in its 8. I dont know really what the its 8 wage is, however an hour and i dont have any benefits and they want me to get obamacare but its so much money i cant afford it. Milk is 4, a loaf 3. 70 and gallon of gas is 3. 59. A week king 40 hours after taxes and everything its ust hard to survive in this economy right now. Host so jane, what do you think be . Of the solution might do you think raising the minimum 12 an 15 an hour or hour or do you think theres another answer out there . Caller well, going back to when was in my twenties, i was money the same amount of offerployees were able to insurance. They even gave you a 401 k well. N as now employers cant even afford employees benefits. To give higherrd florida. Th the laws in we cant get any higher wages nd people are turning to welfare because you make more money on welfare. You get food stamps. You get free phones, but i dont want to do that. I dont want to go on into welfare thats jane from holiday, calling with her perspective. 2027488000 s at if you leave in the eastern and central time zones. Us at 2027488001 and were also on twitter wj and at facebook. Com cspan. Ast week a flcio talked about the Labor Movement and impact of unions and speaking at the monitor breakfast. Labor day there is a surpass labor victories and organized labor is in design. It tell you its time to retire that old chestnut its just not true. Was an untold story about rising tide about innovative ways to get a better life. In the face of opposition. Its a story thats taken place around s and towns all the country and offices and factories and among ordinary that they canided stand together to make a difference. Momentum kly the hasnt gone unnoticed completely. Gallop poll shows that upport for unions is at its highest since 2008 with 58 of approval and ing 63 are woman and the good news the really good news for us is workers from 1834 support 66 . Ns by Obama Administration which is preparing on the white on the workers summit in fall. Our was richard t trunka talking about the state of the Labor Movement in america. Your phone calls on your wages. Have you seen them go up or go down. Caller is richard from north carolina. Youre on the air. Yes, good morning. Host good morning to you. Yes. R f 5 is the Unemployment Rate then people they need to start teaching math in school. That. Lot higher than most people can realize that we three approximately 320 Million People who live in the country. 50 million of them are on welfare and 40 million are looking for jobs. Thats almost 100 Million People out of work. According to the irs here is approximately illegals in the country around 30 to 40 the irs thats what said a couple of years ago. Contractors on the east coast, after hurricane sandy, which came through and damage and a lot of work as done, 80 of that was accomplished by illegals who the job and not u. S. Citizens. Host whats your personal situation. Employed . Caller no, im retired. I was working up until 2007. Selling ing and properties and stuff like that. Host got out at the right time. Caller yeah. Yeah. Now gon see the y any Shopping Center and youll see the Vacant Stores in the strip malls. A few years ago, you can find a parttime job and now even find a parttime job. Grass cutting and lawn seems to be the number one employment around its got to get better. Opefully well see some improvement. But i doubt it with this president. We need another administration. Thats why trump has ideas on how to create jobs. Host all right. North carolina well have to leave it there. Our next caller is doug from island, new york. What is your situation . Caller good morning. How are you . Good. Caller listen, two things. Seamus erwin is not there anymore. E always hear from economists but thing they dont acknowledge, once you stop Unemployment Benefits youre no longer counted. Here are hundreds of thousands that are not counted. Everyone is saying inflation is down. We have in the stores is shrink flation. Tems, tuna fish its now five ounces a pound of cookies or three s theyre now quarters of a pound and ice instead of a half gallon and coffee was 39 ounces and now half. 29 and a host youre saying its just less of a product. I do organic and prices keep going up dramatically. 5. 49 for a half gallon of milk. Of butter. Ght ounces 5. 39 for organic. My situation my wages havent increased in six years. Exact lly the same. The people in these bubbles in washington, they dont take into consideration. In . T what field do you work caller education. Host okay. Caller yeah, education. Staten island. N the New York Times, this editorial was published today ntitled, you deserve a raise today. The editorial states policymakers should be focused to raise wages. They skeufp too soon from budget cuts. Host next up is herbert from georgia. Caller the wages have gone all way down the last 15 years. The thing i know two poll fromz 20 years ago theyre florida, they used to be teachers. 174,000 and thats 100 minimum e than the wage. The politicians are making more oney and they had a better healthcare way before obama and we put them in office. Us. Yre not fighting for i dont care if theyre republican or democrat. Salaries. Heir everybody got a budget. Got a budget for welfare and got a budget for everything else. Washington, d. C. s budget. They dont even tell you how money they spend with this benghazi stuff. Millionsd millions and of dollars and dont do unemployment extension for the people. Backbone ask they got wage e when minimum when i was growing up minimum up. Went when people started organizing, it up. Ought now they think about themselves and theyre spending all this is y and this woman who retired now she is retiring and off the salary than she was a teacher. Come together. Host we hear your thoughts this morning. Florida. Good morning to you. Whats the situation like in florida . Its bad. Unemployment is bad. 8 at walmart and im making 8. 50. For five years. A raise. E i got my manager is getting a car or new house. Saying, oh, wow. m going to retire and go to hawaii, but you have to look at history. Before reagan went into power ny employer who hired illegal jail. S they were put to hire w any employer can illegal aliens and dont go to jail. A loft callers are saying the thing. Those employers need to get fined and go to jail, hefty and just look at history. Host would you support an minimum wage . Caller of course. Of course. I mean, we can barely make it electricity and water bill, Car Insurance and Health Insurance. Perfect example, walmart, the walton, man, theyre and cannot illion afford theyre paying like hour. Walmart will raise next year youll get wow, 1 more and now i can retire. Kidding me. Host all right, joe from florida. We hear your thoughts this well. Ng as i want to bring in a few other headlines. Professor to ard launch long shot 2016 bid. Financer reformer is announce his bid on wednesday just a few days after e reached the 1 million fundraising goal he set for himself to launch a bid. Announce his run in claremo hampshire. New four ion in less than weeks. Now we at cspan interviewed him back in february when he talked finance reform. Heres a little bit from that event. Least ge, any change, at if its against organized money the left or the right fails, any change, including yours. Into a room like this has an issue you care about. It could be climate change, healthcare, the debt, tax policy. Dont care what the issue, is at the federal level you all have an issue you think is important and im sure most of spend an extraordinary amount of your free time on that money to ng your support causes that would advance this issue. The point to see even if your issue is in your view the issue, change on until wee wont happen change this corruption first. Corrupting this influence of the way we fund the first issue because it blocks the ability of to control and steer the direction of our democracy. Host in the news this morning Washington Post has an migrant crisis in europe. They issued a broad appeal to catholics and called on every parish and religious sanctuary to take family. Refugee he pope who was thrust himself has poller rising debates entered the fray. He majority of those are muslims coming from syria, iraq francis nations and poll d in as antimigrant seugsz were wielding religion as a weapon. The New York Times reports that europe is grasping for answers as more migrants flood borders. Heres the story from this orn