Laid-Off US Workers Are Taking Huge Pay Cuts At Their New Jobs
August 26th, 2012“The Great Reession was now entering its third decade, and unemployment was still at a record high. Even the fast-food joints in my neighborhood had a two year waiting list for job applicants.”
—Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline
Via: AP:
The U.S. economic recovery hasn’t felt much like one even for people who managed to find new jobs after being laid off. Most of them have had to settle for less pay.
Only 56 percent of Americans laid off from January 2009 through December 2011 had found jobs by the start of this year, the Labor Department said Friday. More than half of them took jobs with lower pay. One-third took pay cuts of 20 percent or more.
The figures would be even lower if people who could find only part-time jobs were included in the total.
