I’d like to believe in the American dream. I’d like to believe that with an education and hard work you’ll be on a yellow brick road, headed toward a bright future, headed toward the emerald city. But the recent Census Bureau report paints a rather different picture for most U.S. workers.
On the bright side:
- Median household income rose a bit to $46,326, the first increase in six years.
But then there’s that cloud hovering above:
- To make up that increase in household income, more family members are working—at lower paying jobs.
- In 2005, the poor accounted for 12.6 percent of the population, roughly the same as in 2004. But of that, 43 percent earned less than half of the poverty limit — $19,971 for a household of four —the highest such percentage ever recorded.
- In 2005, an estimated 46.6 million people had no health coverage, up 1.3 million since 2004 and increasing the percentage of Americans without coverage from 15.6 percent of the population to 15.9 percent.
- And for children? This year’s data found that the number of children without health insurance grew between 2004 and 2005, rising from 10.8 percent of those under 18 to 11.2 percent.
For 25 years, the U.S.has pursued a domestic economic and social strategy built around the assertion that the “market,” if left to its own, will fuel economic growth and provide the most efficient distribution of economic and social resources. According to this theory, poverty will be eliminated as the economy grows. We’ve been asked to follow this yellow brick road to the wondrous kingdom of Oz, but now it seems that we’re not headed to Oz--we're headed over a cliff.
Over the past decade we in the U.S. have witnessed precarious employment, wage stagnation, the shrinking of the middle class, expansion of the working poor, the slow death of rural America, rising national debt, budget and trade deficits, and cut backs in spending on the social needs of our citizens – simply put, people are working harder than ever and barely keeping their heads above water. There’s no longer a partnership between business and labor, or government and its citizens.
Is it too late to change direction? Is there another path to a brighter future for our children?
I believe there’s still time, but if we’re going to go down a different road, we need to re-examine what we value.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once spoke to the age old question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and offered to his audience of junior high school students two guidelines for going forward in life:
Number one in your life's blueprint, should be a deep belief in your own dignity, your worth and your own somebodiness…Secondly, in your life's blueprint you must have as the basic principle the determination to achieve excellence in your various fields of endeavor…And when you discover what you will be in your life, set out to do it as if God Almighty called you at this particular moment in history to do it.
I fully agree with Dr. King’s sage words, the recognition of the inherent human dignity, that spark of the divine in each of us, the reflection of God’s image. And of course, the clear echo of Paul’s admonition in Colossians, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Nevertheless, when I first heard his words I was haunted by his comments – not by what he said so much as by what he didn’t say. Specifically, I wanted to hear some mention of how we as a society, should value the work performed by our brothers and sisters. This first part was personal—what should my attitude be—but what about the collective? Do we have a responsibility in creating dignity in work?
A few weeks ago I ran into my neighbor, a single mother of three, out on her front porch, fanning herself to keep cool in the sweltering DC heat. I’ve known her about a year now – and in the whole time I can’t recall a single conversation with her about her day at work, probably because she hasn’t been working. On this sweltering day, as I turned the key in the front door, she looked at me and said, “I need a job.” I was startled. When she followed with, “Can you help me find a job?” I was speechless. Setting down my bag, we started discussing her qualifications (a high school diploma) and options:
“What would you like to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“How about retail? Office assistant? Fast food?”
“No. I need a good job. And I’m not working at McDonald’s, you don’t make enough and it’s a crappy job.”
The conversation continued for a bit—essentially she wanted a job she could be proud of, one that others would respect – and the reality was that low-wage jobs she was qualified for didn’t carry that dignity, let alone a pay check that would allow her to support three kids. I’m not advocating for an abdication in personal responsibility, but collectively we have a responsibility too.
The reality is that as a society, we don’t value all work, all jobs. And that easily translates into not valuing the people who perform those tasks.
Dr. King did in fact bring this social context to his thoughts on human work and specifically how we as a society value work:
There is nothing but a lack of social vision to prevent us from paying an adequate wage to every American citizen whether he be a hospital worker, laundry worker, maid, or day laborer. There is nothing except shortsightedness to prevent us from guaranteeing an annual minimum and livable income for every American family. There is nothing, except a tragic death wish, to prevent us from reordering our priorities.
It seems we are still in desperate need of a reordering of our priorities—but how?
Catholic Social Teaching is very much in line with the Dr. King’s thoughts. Pope John Paul II’s encyclical, On Human Work, offers some challenging insights on the relationship between people, work and society. John Paul asserts that work imitates God’s activity, gives dignity, and allows people to fulfill their total vocation. Fundamentally, labor must be prioritized over capital, and people over things. Policies need to respect the objective rights of workers—the criterion for shaping the world economy. Wages sufficient to support a family and other social benefits for workers are needed, including health care, the right to leisure, pension and accident insurance, and a decent work environment. The right to form unions is an indispensable element of social life because they can be a key voice in the political order to secure rights and the common good.
This election season, we need to take a tough look at the issues of growing poverty, lack of decent work, and a struggling national economy.
- The federal minimum wage at $5.15/hr is far too little to support an individual, let alone a family. Maybe we need to consider something closer to a “living wage”?
- Access to health care and other benefits aren’t luxuries, but basic rights that are fundamental to a healthy society and economy. Today companies are increasingly allowed to take them away, shifting the burden to working families. If we don’t have a national system, maybe all employers should be mandated to provide coverage.
- Basic labor rights like collective bargaining, striking, freedom of association are not ensured for all, but should be. Notably, agricultural and domestic workers are omitted from national labor protections and increasingly the few labor rights we do enjoy are not enforced. In some cases they have been overturned.
As we consider the best economic policy for our country and our neighbors, it’s time to begin promoting a policy of creating good jobs at home and abroad, thus creating a new road toward a brighter future for all
Posted by Kristin Sampson, Senior Research Associate, Center of Concern