MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
Long before the pandemic, U.S. workers’ productivity and their median pay, which once rose in tandem, went through an acrimonious divorce. Compensation, especially in some of the country’s fastest-growing industries, has stagnated, while the cost of housing, health care and education have not. The federal minimum wage, stuck at $7.25 since 2009, is worth 70% of what it was in 1968, and about one-third of what it would be had it kept pace with productivity. Benefits have been slashed and employee rights (and unions) deeply diminished. The pandemic has exacerbated the problem, but also placed it in stark relief. This is how the American worker got fleeced. —Josh Petri