[lbo-talk] Ehrenreich responds to BDL

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

Kelley:
> of services. there probably isn't. look at the BLS data, then compare
> what people say they hire maids for, then factor in the issues i
raised
> and it works out to be really even. even in the case ehrenreich
> mentions: Maine's Merry Maids, the $25/hr to the service was for
_four_
> maids, not for one maid.
>

Certainly.  Wages for SIC 72  (personal services) for Maine are $332
week on average for 2002 (taken directly from the BLSs Longitudinal Data
Base) , or $8.30 per hr assuming 40 hours/week (BLS data do not give you
the number of hours worked, though).  That is below the $25 per hour for
4 maids (or 6.25).  However, the BLS data ara establishment -based, they
do not report wages earned by individuals working outside the formal
sector - e.g. your neighbor daughter doing housecleaning or babysitting
for you, or the son mowing your grass.  These arrangements tend to fetch
more than $8/ hr - the going rate where my wife lives (central PA) is
$10-$20/hr.


> also, another reason why she might be advocating hiring a service,
> though she never says it, is this: do you think unionizing would have
a
> better chance among independent contractors or among maids who worked
> for a service?

Actually I do.  Perhaps not unionizing but direct ownership of the
establishment lie a cooperative.

Wojtek