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American life is improving for the lowest paid

economist.com

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Re: American life is improving for the lowest paid

#21

Post by esotericn »

DanBC wrote: post #18
esotericn wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have never worked an hourly paid job in the UK that has paid holiday. I'm not sure they exist, it's sort of what hourly pay is - you get it when you work and not when you don't. Personally I'm not sure it's something that makes sense, it should just be factored in to the wage. Most hourly paid jobs I know of don't have regular hours, even - how much do you pay for a week's holiday when some weeks the employee works…

Hang on - paid holiday is a legal requirement. https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights This applies to people on zero-hour contracts as well.

News to me! Perhaps I was ripped off.

I've either done short-term stints or been salaried for over a decade now.

Cheers for the link!

Re: American life is improving for the lowest paid

#22

Post by FabHK »

ethbro wrote: post #2

Headline: "American life is improving for the lowest paid; Come back capitalism, all is forgiven" Article: Low unemployment means anyone can find a job. "By last year, the poorest 10% were still earning only a miserly 4.1% more per hour than they did (in real wages) 40 years ago. Median hourly pay for America’s workers was up a little more, by 14%." "Low- and middle-income households remain anxious about volatile ear…

Yeah, quite remarkable. Celebrating a 0.1% annual wage increase over the last 4 decades, one week (!) of paid vacation, and "help" with health insurance as progress. In 2019.

It reminds me of the Onion article rejoicing that "Chinese Employers To Grant 15-Minute Maternity Break".

https://www.theonion.com/chinese-employers-to-grant-15-minut...

"Of course, this measure wouldn't need to be taken at all if pregnant workers could schedule their due dates for the annual holiday of May 1," Huang added.

Re: American life is improving for the lowest paid

#23

Post by theoh »

DanBC wrote: post #18
esotericn wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have never worked an hourly paid job in the UK that has paid holiday. I'm not sure they exist, it's sort of what hourly pay is - you get it when you work and not when you don't. Personally I'm not sure it's something that makes sense, it should just be factored in to the wage. Most hourly paid jobs I know of don't have regular hours, even - how much do you pay for a week's holiday when some weeks the employee works…

Hang on - paid holiday is a legal requirement. https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights This applies to people on zero-hour contracts as well.

What does paid holiday mean, exactly, in a zero-hour contract? If there's no guaranteed minimum rate at which one is paid during any given period, it seems like there can be no way to assert that one is on "paid leave".

I tried googling it and found this, which seems inconclusive: https://www.breathehr.com/blog/zero-hours-contracts-holiday-...

Re: American life is improving for the lowest paid

#24

Post by flattone »

esotericn wrote: post #16
otaviokz wrote: post #4

"What’s really rare, he adds, is his annual week of paid holiday" I may be getting it wrong as I don't live in US, but does it mean he only gets one week of holidays per year? Is there any other form of paid off time?

I have never worked an hourly paid job in the UK that has paid holiday. I'm not sure they exist, it's sort of what hourly pay is - you get it when you work and not when you don't. Personally I'm not sure it's something that makes sense, it should just be factored in to the wage. Most hourly paid jobs I know of don't have regular hours, even - how much do you pay for a week's holiday when some weeks the employee works…

"if they fail to save it's on them"

while this is mechanically true everywhere i look it isnt a comprehensive implementation of managing varieties of types of people toward the betterment of humanity

Re: American life is improving for the lowest paid

#25

Post by JumpCrisscross »

rmason wrote: post #8

If you want to read the entire article: https://outline.com/TegA4h

Why this over the Internet Archive [1]? Outline is a private site run by unknown people with unknown intentions. Its privacy policy [2] (a) names no actual person or responsible entity, (b) permits business transfers and (c) permits changes at Outline's sole discretion.

The Internet Archive, on the other hand, is a nonprofit run by known, reputable people.

(Setting aside the ethics of reading journalists' work without compensating them.)

[1] https://archive.org

[2] https://outline.com/privacy.html

Re: American life is improving for the lowest paid

#26

Post by olivermarks »

mistermann wrote: post #11
ethbro wrote: post #2

Headline: "American life is improving for the lowest paid; Come back capitalism, all is forgiven" Article: Low unemployment means anyone can find a job. "By last year, the poorest 10% were still earning only a miserly 4.1% more per hour than they did (in real wages) 40 years ago. Median hourly pay for America’s workers was up a little more, by 14%." "Low- and middle-income households remain anxious about volatile ear…

A good example of how the news is often both factual and "fake".

I was just listening to one of the Economist podcasts with Cass Sunstein https://soundcloud.com/theeconomist/the-economist-asks-cass

The Economist is strictly broadcast, no feedback or comments allowed in any medium. The podcast interviewers introduce themselves but that's a rare exception, no article authors are attributed.

Their platform arguably promotes the Rothschild/Agnelli agenda and is useful to keep in touch with that viewpoint.

Re: American life is improving for the lowest paid

#27

Post by chungleong »

otaviokz wrote: post #4

"What’s really rare, he adds, is his annual week of paid holiday" I may be getting it wrong as I don't live in US, but does it mean he only gets one week of holidays per year? Is there any other form of paid off time?

Paid leaves aren't mandated by law. The norm is two weeks for salaried workers. Most people don't used them up anyway. There's no tradition of everyone going on vacation in the same month in the US. That makes people feel somewhat guilty leaving their jobs behind. Even while on vacation many end up working.

Americans do switch jobs more frequently. People have more occasions to unwind between jobs (perhaps cashing out their unused leaves to pay for a big trip).

Re: American life is improving for the lowest paid

#28

Post by detaro »

theoh wrote: post #23
DanBC wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hang on - paid holiday is a legal requirement. https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights This applies to people on zero-hour contracts as well.

What does paid holiday mean, exactly, in a zero-hour contract? If there's no guaranteed minimum rate at which one is paid during any given period, it seems like there can be no way to assert that one is on "paid leave". I tried googling it and found this, which seems inconclusive: https://www.breathehr.com/blog/zero-hours-contracts-holiday-...

According to the gov.uk page above, it's based on the actual hours worked: if you've accumulated X hours since start of the calculation period, you get the appropriate amount of time allocated. Presumably they can just like normal employees request time off for a specific time, and get paid for their time during that? For people only having very few hours, it seems weird, but if someone gets scheduled a lot the right to block out time seems relevant.

Re: American life is improving for the lowest paid

#30

Post by DanBC »

theoh wrote: post #23
DanBC wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hang on - paid holiday is a legal requirement. https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights This applies to people on zero-hour contracts as well.

What does paid holiday mean, exactly, in a zero-hour contract? If there's no guaranteed minimum rate at which one is paid during any given period, it seems like there can be no way to assert that one is on "paid leave". I tried googling it and found this, which seems inconclusive: https://www.breathehr.com/blog/zero-hours-contracts-holiday-...

> Irregular hours

> People working irregular hours (like shift workers or term-time workers) are entitled to paid time off for every hour they work. They need to calculate their leave entitlement for irregular hours.

That takes you to this calculator: https://www.gov.uk/calculate-your-holiday-entitlement

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