Thread: Wash Post:U.S. Workers' Wages Stagnate As Firms Rush to Slash Costs

U.S. Workers' Wages Stagnate As Firms Rush to Slash Costs

By Annys Shin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 3, 2009

In December, Timothy Owner, a trombone player with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, called his landlord to tell
her he might have trouble paying rent around May. He and the orchestra's 53 other full-time members, many of whom
are paid less than $30,000 a year, had agreed to a month-long furlough.

The furlough, which ended yesterday, was rough, Owner said. But he and other musicians acknowledged that the
alternative could have been worse. "We're less unhappy if this means the orchestra will survive," he said.

Across the country, workers' earnings are stagnating or, in some cases, declining. For many Americans, the
setbacks are all the more troubling because they have lost so much wealth in recent months, with the value of
their homes and retirement packages plummeting.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?hpid=topnews

CA employees mandated to unpaid furloughs per budget reconciliation (2009).