Bernie Sanders’ Labor Day Index

This is an OP-ED article in today’s Los Angeles Times. It is posted under Senator Bernie Sanders name. The data is not news to me but might be news to you.

 

Amount a full-time worker must earn per hour to afford the average two-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles:

$27.38

Factor by which this exceeds the city’s current $9-an-hour minimum wage

3.04

______

 

Number of manufacturing jobs in the United States on Jan. 1, 2000

17.3 million

 

Number last year:

12.1 million

______

 

Percentage change in annual worker compensation from 1978 to 2013:

+10.2

Percentage change in annual CEO compensation from 1978 to 2013:

+937

______

 

Average CEO pay in the S&P 500:

$13.8 million

Amount of the top-compensated CEO,

David Zaslav of Discovery Communications,

was paid in 2014:

$156 million

Median salary at Discovery Communications in 2014:

$80,000

______

 

Median weekly earnings for full-time workers in 2015:

$801

For female full-time workers:

$726

______

 

Real national unemployment rate:

10.3%

(This is from the BLS Table A15, U6 data, 8-31-15)

 

For young White high school graduates:

33.8%

 

For young African American high school graduates:

51.3%

______

 

Percentage of the entire wealth of the United States owned by the top 1%

41

 

Percentage owned by the bottom 60%:

2

______

 

Percentage of Americans without health insurance for at least part of the year 2013:

11.7

Percentage of Canadians:

0

Percentage of Israelis:

0

______

 

Number of countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that mandate some form of paid family leave:

33

Number of OECD countries that do not:

1

 

Percentage of U.S. workers without access to paid family leave:

87

______

 

Number of American children living below the poverty line is 2012:

24.2 million

______

 

Percentage of Americans who still believe in the American dream:

64