A noteworthy article titled Low-paying jobs are here to stay appeared on CNN Money today. It does not report good news, but it does focus our attention on a very real situation that we must adjust to and respond to if we want to succeed with our money in future.
Wages to Remain Stagnant for Years
The story reports on a study done by the Economic Policy Institute. Overall conclusions of the study are that income will remain essentially stagnant over the next several years. There will likely be a slight increase for upper income workers and possibly a continuing reduction in pay for many lower pay workers but nearly thirty percent of workers in America will continue to earn below the poverty level.
For a long time now I have suggested the same thing. My reasons, as you may know if you have read some of my previous posts, is that our recession is an economic correction from the overspending rampant in our country for years and not a business cycle, meaning that only increased productivity can make things better.
How to Avoid Low Wages
Is there anything we can do to avoid being harmed, or in many cases we should be saying further harmed, by this trend. Yes I think so.
More important than anything else, every person needs to accept responsibility for themselves and their future. This means two things in particular. First, deal with current realities by doing whatever you have to do to adjust to any changes that have been forced upon you—don't dig yourself into a deeper hole if your financial life has suffered as a result of recent events. Second, choose a productive future for yourself, redirecting your income path if necessary.
How to Get Higher Wages
Farming, personal care, building and grounds maintenance, food preparation and health care support are fields with the highest percentage of low paying jobs. Most of these fields expect growth but opportunities for making a decent living are low. Other fields are more promising. You can choose and prepare for a better paying job if you want to, and why not?
The key point to get from this study, in case you had not realized it before, is that we all need to plan for the future with the understanding that what we see now is the new reality. Do not wait for things to get better. They will not in the near term. If we want to do better we must plan and prepare to do so.
Opportunities for More Income
Realize that the options for success have not changed. In worse times than these there have always been tremendous opportunities for success for those who demand them and go looking for them. Don't let your future happen; make it happen.
