So, yesterday, we discussed the fact that about ½ of all our students in public schools are from below the poverty line. Of course, once you recognize that basic economic fact, it’s not a big leap to comprehend why so many of our students are not meeting the educational standards we expect. After all, we’ve known for a very long time that students below the poverty line have more difficulties learning and are more likely to quit school before they graduate high school- in other words, the perfect prescription to perpetuate the poverty problem.
And, we know that while our economic barometer is improving, those improvements are simply not reaching everyone. It’s another example of what we’ve discussed before – diffusion and convection. The economy is being convected forward and upward- but within that bulk motion, there’s lot of diffusion going on. So, while the economy as a whole is growing, there are plenty of folks (according to the data- about 70% of us) that are just meandering around. Oh, we may have our incomes increase by a percent or two, but not like the improvements for those at the top of the ladder.
Part of that reason is that companies are still not hiring folks for robust full-time positions. As a matter of fact, some 7 million folks are employed part-time. Despite the protestations of “those that have”- it’s not because these part-times want to “have the freedom of a part-time position”, but because companies are deciding to not hire permanent full-time workers and to use corporate funds for excessive payments to their executives.
So, while unemployment has dropped by ½ since the advent of the Great Recession (it’s now down to 5.6%), some 50% more people are stuck in part-time jobs now than obtained in 2007. As opposed to previous recessions and subsequent recoveries, there hasn’t been a recovery in the number full-time positions available.
About 1/3 (it’s actually a little more than 30%) of those who are working part-time are really unemployed for 3, 4, or more months each year. And, most part-timers can’t really collect unemployment, because they are also termed temporary; companies rotate people in and out of those positions, etc.
Which is why many of these same companies are leaning on Congress to dilute a key provision of Obamacare (PPACA): the definition of a part-time worker. Because if these companies have to provide benefits to those working 30 hours a week, they can’t continue to “1099”, “temp”, and/or part-time their staff, leaving these employees worried about permanent employment and willing to accept almost anything. Especially when the same get to strip the rights of folks to unionize (that euphemistically termed “Right to Work”- which is really nothing but the ‘right to union bust’).
We need to have these position elevated to full-time status or be associated with benefits, so the employees will feel some stability. Because it’s the best way to insure that our economy will keep growing and benefit all our citizens. Not the least of which is to have the below-living-wage employees continue the drain on our government coffers, subsidizing corporate profits
(If you didn’t follow that last sentence- you should read this blog again.)
