[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 68 (Friday, May 20, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1038-E1039]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     ``THE YOUNG AND THE JOBLESS''

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. BARNEY FRANK

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 19, 2005

  Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, one of the most troubling 
aspects of our current economic situation is the eroding position of a 
very large number of working people. While I was pleasantly surprised 
by the relatively high number of jobs created in April, the fact is 
that job creation during this recovery period has significantly lagged 
both historical experience in recovery, and the projections of the Bush 
Administration. Even more distressing is that those who have gotten 
jobs are being paid at rates which are historically low in real terms. 
Distressingly, inequality in our society is increasing even as our 
wealth increases, and as Alan Greenspan noted a year ago, a 
disproportionately large share of the increased wealth has gone to 
corporate profits and very little to compensation paid in wages and 
salaries.
  In a recent New York Times article, Bob Herbert does an excellent job 
of documenting this problem, quoting from the excellent report from the 
Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston. 
Andrew Sum, the Director of that center, is appropriately quoted in 
that article as noting that in the current economic phase, ``younger 
workers have just been crushed.'' I admire the work that Andrew Sum is 
doing and I appreciate Bob Herbert's giving this the broader exposure 
to which it is entitled. In furtherance of this need to understand what 
is happening in our economy today, I ask that Mr. Herbert's article be 
printed here.

                       [From the New York Times]

                       The Young and the Jobless

                            (By Bob Herbert)

       There were high fives at the White House last week when the 
     latest monthly employment report showed that 274,000 jobs had 
     been created in April, substantially more, than experts had 
     predicted.
       The employment bar has been set so low for the Bush 
     administration that even a modest gain is cause for 
     celebration. But we shouldn't be blinded by the flash of last 
     Saturday's headlines. American workers, especially younger 
     workers, remain stuck in a gloomy employment landscape.
       For example, a recent report from the Center for Labor 
     Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston tells us 
     that the employment rate for the nation's teenagers in the 
     first 11 months of 2004--just 36.3 percent was the lowest it 
     has ever been since the federal government began tracking 
     teenage employment in 1948.
       Those 20 to 24 years old are also faring poorly. In 2000, 
     72.2 percent were employed during a typical month. By last 
     year that percentage had dropped to 67.9 percent.
       Even the recent modest surge in jobs has essentially 
     bypassed young American workers. Gains among recently arrived 
     immigrants seem to have accounted for the entire net increase 
     in jobs from 2000 through 2004.
       Over all, only workers 55 and up have done reasonably well 
     over the past few years. ``Younger workers,'' said Andrew 
     Sum, the center's director, ``have just been crushed.''
       Whatever the politicians and the business-booster types may 
     be saying, the simple truth is that there are not nearly 
     enough jobs available for the many millions of out-of-work or 
     underworked men and women who need them. The wages of those 
     who are employed are not even keeping up with inflation.
       Workers have been so cowed by an environment in which they 
     are so obviously dispensable that they have been afraid to 
     ask for the raises they deserve, or for their share of the 
     money derived from the remarkable increases in worker 
     productivity over the past few years. And from one coast to 
     the other, workers have swallowed draconian cuts in benefits 
     with scarcely a whimper.
       Some segments of the population have been all but 
     completely frozen out. In Chicago, only one of every 10 black 
     teenagers found employment in 2004. In Illinois, fewer than 
     one in every three teenage high school dropouts are working.
       Last month's increase of 274,000 jobs was barely enough to 
     keep up with the increase in the nation's working-age 
     population.
       ``The economy is growing and real output is up,'' said Mr. 
     Sum, who is also a professor at Northeastern. ``But the 
     distribution of income, in terms of how much is going to 
     workers--well, the answer is very little has gone to the 
     typical worker.''
       The squeeze on the younger generation of workers is so 
     tight that in many cases the young men and women of today are 
     faring less well than their parents' generation did at a 
     similar age. Professor Sum has been comparing the standard of 
     living of contemporary families with that of comparable 
     families three decades ago.
       ``Two-thirds of this generation are not living up to their 
     parents' standard of living,'' he said.
       College graduates today are doing better in real economic 
     terms than college graduates in the 1970's. But everyone else 
     is doing less well. ``If you look at families headed by 
     someone without a college degree,'' said Professor Sum, 
     ``their income last year in real terms was below that of a 
     comparable family in 1973. For dropouts it's like 25 percent 
     below where it was. And for high school grads, about 15 to 20 
     percent below.''
       It shouldn't be surprising that the standard of living of 
     large segments of the population is sinking when employers 
     have all the clout, including the powerful and unwavering 
     support of the federal government. Workers can't even get a 
     modest increase in the national minimum wage.

[[Page E1039]]

       Globalization was supposed to be great for everyone. Nafta 
     was supposed to be a boon. Increased productivity was 
     supposed to be the ultimate tool--the sine qua non--for 
     raising the standard of living for all.
       Instead, wealth and power in the United States has become 
     ever more dangerously concentrated, leaving an entire 
     generation of essentially powerless workers largely at the 
     mercy of employers.
       A remark by Louis Brandeis comes to mind: ``We can have 
     democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth 
     concentrated in the hands of a few. But we can't have both.''

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