Wages up 3 pennies an hour
By Dian Vujovich
That old Great Depression song, âBuddy, Can You Spare a Dime?â, seems to be coming around again.
Along with the good news of a positive jobs report for the month of October came news that hourly wages had increased too. At first hearing, that sounds like news worthy of a big, “Whoppee!” But look closer at the hourly wage increase and itâs almost laughable— 3 cents.
An hourly wage increase of three cents is only three pennies away from no increase. Then again, add that amount up for an eight-hour workday and youâll have earned 24 cents. That’s still one penny shy of a quarter and thereâs not very much one can buy with it either—even the cost of one stamp takes almost twice that amount.
Yes, television commercials say you can feed a child for 25 cents a day, but Iâm not really sure thatâs true. With that amount I do know for sure that I can only buy a few minutes of time using parking meters in downtown West Palm Beach. But as for the penny, well, penny gumball machines don’t exist any more and just like brick-sized mobile phone are relics of the past.
Once upon a time, in the 1960s I was able to put 25 cents of regular gas into my VW Bug and have it run for miles, but that canât happen any more. Even with the price of gas dropping, putting 25 cents worth of petrol into a vehicle is close to impossible given how quickly the counter on the meter at the pump works.
Nope, three cents an hour wonât make much difference in anybodyâs life today expect for the bean counters and CFOs calculating how much a company is spending on employee payrolls.
Which brings me to the title of another popular Depression-era song, âTen cents a danceâ. Even if that were happening today, youâd have to work half a day to be able to afford it.
To read more articles, please visit the column archive.