# Stagnating wages inevitable in capitalist system?



## bearishbull (5 Apr 2006)

article in todays indo shows we rank well down the list for disposable incomes after allowing for taxes purchasing power parity etc.doesnt even take account of out house prices being amongst highest in europe which surely means our wages go even even less further than in other countries in europe.
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IRISH workers rank eighth for earning power out of 20 European states. 
The Federation of European Employers' seventh annual 'Pay in Europe' report reveals a wide pay gap between rich and poor countries in Europe. 
Irish workers currently earn five times more than employees do in Turkey and Slovakia and four times the going rates in Poland and Hungary. German and Dutch workers earn six times more per hour than equivalent workers in Slovakia. 
FedEE director Robin Chater said: "In terms of real spending power, however, a different picture emerges when holiday bonus payments are added to basic pay, and earnings are adjusted for tax differences and relative purchasing power." 
He added that the pay gap between countries narrows substantially once these additional factors are taken into account. Luxembourg also becomes top of the pay league for real net spending power while Denmark ranks highest for gross hourly pay. 
The FedEE's net spending power analysis shows that Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland and the Netherlands rank among the best paid workers in Europe. 
Workers in Slovakia, Turkey, Hungary, Poland, Portugal and Greece are the worst off. 
Though gross pay is a lot lower in these countries, when tax and purchasing power are included, their relative position improves. The latest pay study follows a recent one showing Irish employees earn less than those in most European states. 
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another article shows that globalisation is resulting in wages in developed world  stagnating but big corporations continue to profit as costs are lowered by cheap asian labour etc
http://www.finfacts.com/irelandbusinessnews/publish/article_10005404.shtml
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[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]and again in [/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]new york times[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]By any reasonable standard, the last few years have been bad ones for most people's paychecks. The average hourly wage of rank-and-file workers — a group that makes up 80 percent of the work force — is slightly lower than it was four years ago, once inflation is taken into account. That's right: Most Americans have taken a pay cut since 2002. [/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]But you would never know it by looking at the headline numbers on economic growth. From the standpoint of the broad national economy — the value of the goods and services the country produces — the last few years have been stellar. Despite two wars, soaring oil prices and business scandals, the economy has been growing more than 3 percent a year.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Henry Ford would have no idea what to make of this.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]What was so comforting about Fordism was that it suggested that the economy operated on a virtuous, self-reinforcing cycle. Only when the middle class did well could the country do well. And as the country grew ever richer, so would the middle class.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]In the last few years, however, the economy has kept growing in large part because high-income families — the top 20 percent, roughly — have done so well and have been such devoted spenders. Globalization and new technology have helped many white-collar workers make more money, even as those same changes have closed factories and depressed wages for others. Stock portfolios and houses on the coasts, meanwhile, are much more valuable than they once were, making their owners more willing to spend.[/FONT]
[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]In fact, well-off families, not cash-short ones, have been the ones increasing their borrowing and cutting their savings the most in recent years, according to the Federal Reserve. In 1992, the top fifth of households, as ranked by income, accounted for 42 percent of consumer spending. By 2000, the share had grown to almost 46 percent, and it is probably not much different today. That may sound like a small change, but it's an enormous amount of money, a shift of $300 billion a year in spending from the poor and middle class to the affluent.[/FONT]
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seems that as globalisation increases and an economy reaches an advanced state incomes for the majority middle class will stagnate and only increase in line with inflation,is this where the irish economy is heading after the boom? how will people afford to pay for expensive homes if their wages are stagnant and bills(gas electricity taxes) are going up ahead of inflation?
it seems to me we arent as rich in this country as we are led to beleive.


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## microsquid (10 Apr 2006)

Don't we consistently come out top in 'affluence' surveys due to low education-linked debt?
Can't find a link right now...


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