wages news stories on Newser

Walmart Slapped With $4.8M Bill for Unpaid Wages

Kevin Spak — Wed, 02 May 2012 08:07:24 CDT

The Labor Department has ordered Walmart to pay $4.8 million in back wages to around 4,500 workers it short-changed between 2004 and 2007. Over that span, Walmart had refused to pay overtime to its vision-center managers and asset-protection coordinators, for some reason believing them exempt from federal regulations...

Stay-at-Home Mom? Few Can Afford the Choice

Kevin Spak — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 11:37:36 CDT

Lost in the midst of the Ann Romney/Hilary Rosen "mommy war" was a simple truth: Most mothers today simply can't afford to stay home with their kids. "This is not about 'lifestyle' or 'values,'" writes EJ Dionne of the Washington Post . "This is an economic struggle" born of "decades...

Wages of Young Workers Declining

Dustin Lushing — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 14:47:36 CST

The group getting hit the hardest by plummeting wages caused by high unemployment is the young. The hourly pay for male college graduates ages 23 to 29 fell 11% over the past decade to $21.68 while their female counterparts saw a dip of 7.6% to $18.80, reports...

10 Jobs That Pay Less Than You Think

Dustin Lushing — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 10:30:18 CST

Just because a job sounds interesting, complicated, or intriguing does not mean it pays a fortune. Forbes uses Bureau of Labor stats to round up what it views as the 10 "most surprisingly low-paying jobs," including:

Foxconn Caves to Pressure, Ups Wages

Kevin Spak — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:24:26 CST

Foxconn will bump workers' salaries by as much as 25% while decreasing the amount of overtime demanded of them, the company announced this weekend, in a bid to stem the tide of outrage against it and high-profile customers such as Apple, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell. The move is a victory for...

Mean People Make More Money

Evann Gastaldo — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 17:59:32 CDT

Kindness doesn't pay—at least not between the hours of 9 and 5, a new study shows. The aptly-named "Do Nice Guys—and Gals—Really Finish Last?" study found that "agreeable" workers earn less than those who aren't as agreeable, with an especially wide gap for male employees. Men with...

Just What Is a ‘Good Job’?

Matt Cantor — Sun, 01 May 2011 19:36:05 CDT

We toss around the phrase all the time, but how do we define what makes a “good job” good? It’s a key question—and a complex one—as we look to the future of our economy, writes Michael Lind in Salon . Among the factors: Unions: We often call manufacturing jobs...

We Depend on Uncle Sam's Cash More Than Ever

Kevin Spak — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 09:56:47 CDT

Americans relied on government programs for more of their personal income last year than at any previous time in history. According to a USA Today analysis of federal data, Social Security, unemployment, Medicare, and food stamps made up 18.3% of the national income last year, while wages accounted for...

Wages Falling Fast— and Might Not Come Back

Evann Gastaldo — Tue, 11 Jan 2011 09:30:40 CST

More bad news for the unemployed: You may very well return to the workforce, but it will likely be at a significantly lower wage than you were earning before. The Wall Street Journal offers up the stories of workers who went, in one case, from a $150,000-per-year money manager...