the wage treadmill

[R]

the anti-Bellum south did a pretty good job "defending" its slavery by 
pointing out that the north was populated with wage slaves.   any 
historians out there conversant with the wage slave dialogue -- then or 
now?    can't find much on it since, evidently, it hits to close to home in 
our mercantile society.

R

At 03:29 PM 9/18/2002 -0700, you wrote:


>This data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics was released today:
>
>"Real average weekly earnings increased by 0.3 percent from July to August
>after seasonal adjustment, according to preliminary data released today by
>the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor.  A 0.3 percent
>increase in average hourly earnings and a 0.3 percent rise in average
>weekly hours were partly offset by a 0.3 percent increase in the Consumer 
>Price
>Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W)."
>
>This seems to indicate no gain whatsoever. In fact, if more hours were
>added to the work week, and the CPI rose, aren't workers losing out a bit
>here?
>
>Question: When the govt. refers to "real weekly earnings," as above, do
>they really mean "real earnings," which I have always taken to refer to
>actual purchasing power, or is it something else?
>
>Brian
>
>
>
>
>
>---
>
>"And Mr. Block thinks he may / Be President some day." - Joe Hill, "Mr.
>Block"