Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
U.S. corporations are expanding overseas, not so much at home. McDonalds and Caterpillar said overseas sales growth outperformed the U.S. in the April-June quarter. U.S.-based multinational companies have been focused overseas for years: In the 2000s, they added 2.4 million jobs in foreign countries and cut 2.9 million jobs in the United States, according to the Commerce Department.
Back in the U.S., companies are squeezing more productivity out of staffs thinned out by layoffs during Great Recession. They don't need to hire. And they don't need to be generous with pay raises; they know their employees have nowhere else to go.
Back in the U.S., companies are squeezing more productivity out of staffs thinned out by layoffs during Great Recession. They don't need to hire. And they don't need to be generous with pay raises
Many companies in the US are terminating their full timers and replacing them with FTE's (Full Time Equivalents) which are numerous part timers. Thus no benefits and plenty of turnover due to people can't afford to travel to work if they are only being scheduled 3-4 hours a day.
Many companies in the US are terminating their full timers and replacing them with FTE's (Full Time Equivalents) which are numerous part timers. Thus no benefits and plenty of turnover due to people can't afford to travel to work if they are only being scheduled 3-4 hours a day.
I have seen the exact opposite. Fewer workers given more overtime is becoming the norm in my industry, although it had always been this way to some extent during peek times. The reason is, benefits such as health insurance are very expensive, so by hiring fewer workers and paying overtime, they save. This trend has really grown increasingly popular in the last decade, when health insurance became a critical and unpredictable expense. Companies know health insurance costs will only go up, they just don't know how much.
All across the board, it's becoming more and more unpopular to run an honest business state side. The costs are eating away at profits, while it's expected that companies operate on razor thin margins. All the while, commodity prices just keep going up. Every customer wants cheaper prices, and it's very difficult to pass off increased expenses onto the customer.
Of course, corporate America is one of the biggest killers of their suppliers, and killers of good paying jobs. They expect suppliers to keep reducing their prices to please their corporate overlords. The business world is no different than the employment world. There are hordes of unemployed folks who will gladly line up to get those precious minimum wage Walmart jobs... In the business world, there are plenty of barely surviving businesses lining up to do the precious few jobs provided by corporate America. The ones who end up doing the work expect that by doing the work at a loss, they will benefit by having steady work down the road. Most of these businesses will either figure out the game quickly, or end up going out of business. If they even try to raise the price to make a profit, that will be the last time they get the work, unless they go back to operating at a loss.
In the end, it's the small time operations and the workers who suffer. We've literally watched our earning power, benefits, and livelihoods chiseled away, and there is nothing we can do about it. It's all a vicious cycle. If we are not willing to pay a fair price for the products we consume, the workers won't have the opportunity to make a living wage. With fewer livable wage jobs, there is less money to go around and less money being spent on the services each one of us provides. It has effected everybody, whether we see it or not. If it hasn't, your lucky, but I wouldn't take it for granted.
Of course, when we all make crap wages, we are limited in our decisions when buying. Most people will shop at Walmart, and buy the crap from these large conglomerate super giant, mom and pop business killing machines. That is the final piece of the puzzle, and it guarantees we are locked into the cycle. A few people wise up, but that's not going to save the honest businesses... Not by a long shot.
And that, my friends, is why benefits are becoming a thing of the past, wages stagnate, and we are all screwed! Game over...
Like, why hire an expensive American Mechanical Engineer when you can hire a cheaper Filipino one?
Yeah, the problem with the world is the low ethics and greed of the American corporation. And greedy CEO's.
I once worked at a company and said if there was too much productivity one day then there would be problems with lots of unemployment. That day has come with companies making their workers overwork and do the jobs of many.
Companies realized that in many areas they dont need a glut of workers. They can operate more lean and get the work done. They have also invested in more technology to get work done.
For example, QA. We used to have countless QA engineers running tests for all phases of development. However, we have many automated tools that will run QA tests after being set up a by QA engineer. Now we have a smaller group of QA engineers who configure the QA automation and set up additional tests if necessary. Saves a lot of time and they have been able to focus on more value added work.
Also-- companies are more global. My company we have offices and services based in many foreign countries. If say our European sector is experiencing growth they are not going to hire a bunch of US employees to support that expansion unless they have very specific skills (usually on the development side).
Now in our US market, we desperately need more help. However, it is VERY difficult to find developers who understand our niche, have experience in areas we need, etc. Since our software was predominantly used in Europe, the UK, and India it is easier to find those skilled and experienced workers overseas. On the other hand, we need more analysts in the USA with very specific experiences and have been hiring like crazy in our group-- we have just hired 5 with another 4 to go.
I have seen the exact opposite. Fewer workers given more overtime is becoming the norm in my industry, although it had always been this way to some extent during peek times. The reason is, benefits such as health insurance are very expensive, so by hiring fewer workers and paying overtime, they save. This trend has really grown increasingly popular in the last decade, when health insurance became a critical and unpredictable expense. Companies know health insurance costs will only go up, they just don't know how much.
All across the board, it's becoming more and more unpopular to run an honest business state side. The costs are eating away at profits, while it's expected that companies operate on razor thin margins. All the while, commodity prices just keep going up. Every customer wants cheaper prices, and it's very difficult to pass off increased expenses onto the customer.
Of course, corporate America is one of the biggest killers of their suppliers, and killers of good paying jobs. They expect suppliers to keep reducing their prices to please their corporate overlords. The business world is no different than the employment world. There are hordes of unemployed folks who will gladly line up to get those precious minimum wage Walmart jobs... In the business world, there are plenty of barely surviving businesses lining up to do the precious few jobs provided by corporate America. The ones who end up doing the work expect that by doing the work at a loss, they will benefit by having steady work down the road. Most of these businesses will either figure out the game quickly, or end up going out of business. If they even try to raise the price to make a profit, that will be the last time they get the work, unless they go back to operating at a loss.
In the end, it's the small time operations and the workers who suffer. We've literally watched our earning power, benefits, and livelihoods chiseled away, and there is nothing we can do about it. It's all a vicious cycle. If we are not willing to pay a fair price for the products we consume, the workers won't have the opportunity to make a living wage. With fewer livable wage jobs, there is less money to go around and less money being spent on the services each one of us provides. It has effected everybody, whether we see it or not. If it hasn't, your lucky, but I wouldn't take it for granted.
Of course, when we all make crap wages, we are limited in our decisions when buying. Most people will shop at Walmart, and buy the crap from these large conglomerate super giant, mom and pop business killing machines. That is the final piece of the puzzle, and it guarantees we are locked into the cycle. A few people wise up, but that's not going to save the honest businesses... Not by a long shot.
And that, my friends, is why benefits are becoming a thing of the past, wages stagnate, and we are all screwed! Game over...
I don't disagree.
Americans love to consume, but they are very flippant about what they will consume with actual higher quality equaling higher costs.
I went to a department store the other day--not as nice as Neiman Marcus but not rock bottom either. I was looking for shoes. EVERY single womens shoe I picked up was Made in China. Didn't matter if it was on clearance for 11.95 or if it cost 109.95. The leather in the 109.95 may have been somewhat nicer but it was all made in china.
On the other hand when I was last in France (I travel quite a bit to Dublin and Paris for work), it was VERY difficult to find a shoe NOT made in France, Italy or Spain. The quality and workmanship was VERY different, but the price was also higher than 109.95 (think twice as much for a cheaper shoe on sale).
I told this to my coworkers and they were all saying-- that they may only have a few pair of dress shoes that they expect to be used for work on a day to day basis-- if they want a "fun" shoe they may pay a cheap price for a piece of crap to wear the few times out to a night club but in general they are not so consumed with buying A LOT of shoes-- the preference would be to buy a very high quality shoe and have fewer pairs. Same with clothing, etc.
One of my coworkers still carried a Hermes leather purse that was almost 30 years old that her mother used to carry. It was a very pricey bag when her mother bought it (heck they still are!), and her mother gifted it to her when she got her first professional job. The bag is classic and looks timeless. I think about my own relatives who would much prefer to go and buy cheap leather or manmade materials bags for each season versus having one exquisite expensive bag to last far longer.
We want it all-- but at WalMart prices.
I noticed I stop doing this awhile back. I look for the highest quality items I can buy and reasonably afford and I do not spend or waste money on the cheaper throwaway crap.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
