Middle class under threat
Report examines the economic pressures Oregonians face
Oregon’s middle class is fraying,
with well-paying jobs in short supply
and the cost of raising a family dramat-
ically increasing. That’s the assessment
of a major report released Aug. 30 by
the Oregon Center for Public Policy, a
non-partisan research institute, and
Demos, a New York City-based re-
search and advocacy institute.
“The American Dream is vanishing
before our eyes,” said Demos Distin-
guished Senior Fellow Bob Herbert.
“Sadly, Oregonians who work hard and
play by the rules can no longer expect
to provide a decent life for their fami-
lies.”
The recession upped the pressure on
Oregon’s middle class, but the stress
had been building over several decades,
according to the report, titled The Fray-
ing of Oregon’s Middle Class.
The report details the decline of
manufacturing, historically a mainstay
of well-paying jobs. Oregon manufac-
turing jobs declined from about 23 per-
cent of all jobs in 1979-1980 to about
13 percent in 2009-2010.
Meantime, the wages of the typical
Oregon worker have barely budged,
with median annual earnings in 2009-
10 coming in at only $477 more than
the level in 1993-94. And as a group,
only those with a post-secondary de-
gree have experienced any wage gains.
Younger workers — workers aged
25 to 34 — have fared worse, the report
notes, with wages since 1980 having
declined for all young workers except
those with a college degree or more.
While wages have stagnated or de-
clined, the same cannot be said of ex-
penses associated with raising a family.
“Even with two parents in the labor
force, Oregon families struggle to meet
the high costs of housing and child
care, let alone save for a rainy day or
invest in the future,” the report says.
Another cost pressuring the middle
class is student debt. Three out of five
college graduates who entered the
workforce in 2009 carried a student
debt, and that debt averaged $22,417,
according to the report.
“This report is a wake-up call for
Join AFL-CIO’s ‘I Heart a Worker’ Labor Day action
Starting Aug. 29, you
can show a little love for the
American worker who, be-
tween the economy, jobs
crisis and attacks on work-
ers’ rights, has had a real
rough year.
So this Labor Day, the
AFL-CIO is urging every-
one to “HEART a Worker”
via Facebook and/or Twitter and let the
public know how important hardwork-
ing women and men are in our daily
lives.
The national AFL-
CIO has launched a La-
bor Day splash page at
www.aflcio.org/iheart,
where you can share a
message that answers the
question: “Who do you
HEART this Labor
Day?”
The labor federation
offered some suggestions such as: “I
HEART Cooks,” “I HEART Firefight-
ers” or, if you’re in the north country,
“I HEART Snowplow Drivers.” You
Oregon lawmakers to rebuild the mid-
dle class, the backbone of the state’s
economy,” said OCPP Executive Di-
rector Chuck Sheketoff. “The middle
class did not arise out of thin air, but
was built by the efforts of organized la-
bor to ensure that workers shared in the
state’s prosperity and by public policies
that invested in the state and its people.”
Sheketoff called on Oregon law-
makers to make sure that all of the
state’s spending on economic develop-
ment is tied to the creation of well-pay-
ing jobs.
He also said that the lawmakers
must stop “eroding opportunity” for the
middle class by following a “cuts-only”
approach to balancing the budget.
“It’s essential for the state to raise
more revenue,” he said. “The goals
should not only be to avoid more
budget cuts, but also to increase invest-
ments in key public structures such as
education and health and human serv-
ices that nurture the middle class.”
Both Sheketoff and Herbert under-
scored the importance of a reinvigo-
rated organized labor movement to re-
building the middle class.
“Lawmakers must remove the barri-
ers to organizing that unions face,” Her-
bert said. “Organized labor must grow if
the American Dream is to endure.”
To read the entire report, go online
to www.ocpp.org.
Demos is a non-partisan public pol-
icy research and advocacy organization
that works with policymakers around
the country in pursuit of a more equi-
table economy.
The Oregon Center for Public Pol-
icy is a non-partisan research institute
that does in-depth research and analysis
on budget, tax and economic issues.
also can customize the type of worker
you HEART. After you select the
worker you HEART, you can share the
message on Facebook and via Twitter
with one or two quick clicks.
As we approach the 10th anniver-
sary of 9/11, the” I HEART a Worker”
action also is another way to honor the
many first responders and the thou-
sands who worked so hard in the days
and months after the tragedy to care for
the injured and do the laborious work
needed to restore the Pentagon and
World Trade Center sites.
Sheet Metal Workers Local 16
Members, Officers & Staff
Wish All Workers in Oregon and Washington
a Safe and Happy Labor Day
Officers
Staff
LEN PHILLIPS, Business Manager/FST
DELBERT BROWN, Business Representative
JOHN CANDIOTO, Business Representative
WILLY MYERS, Business Representative
DENNIS DOVER, Business Representative
JOE HARRIS, Business Development
MIKE WALDO, Dispatcher
SHARON ALLEN, Office Manager
ROBERTA LUNDQUIST, Secretary
RIC OLANDER, President
JOE WELTER, Vice-President
ART HIMM, Recording Secretary
WILLIAM CARR, Conductor
RON HERGENRADER, Warden
Executive Board
Trustees
Darrell Alcorn
Terrance Hills
Joel Hutchinson
Charlie Johnson
Seth Kerner
David McBride
Steve Nunamaker
Carrie Barber
Dan Carroll
Jim Philley
2379 NE 178th Avenue, Suite 16, Portland, Oregon 97230
• 503-254-0123 • Fax: 503-254-0157 www.smw16.org
PAGE 6
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
SEPTEMBER 2, 2011