If you’re among those fortunate enough to receive a raise or bonus in 2004, the odds don’t favor a bigger token of your employer’s appreciation in 2005. A survey in which 1,400 chief financial officers of various-sized companies participated showed 63 percent indicating no increases in the size of any raises and bonuses they may hand out (story).
Only 30 percent of the responding CFOs said they will give increased raises and bonuses, while 7 percent said no or that they didn’t know.
The survey was conducted for Robert Half International, a staffing service focused on the accounting, finance and information technology fields.
CFOs who said they do anticipate giving bigger raises and bonuses were asked how much larger they expect those will be. The average for raises was 6 percent and 10 percent for bonuses.
Robert Half CEO John Messmer said, however, that employers may opt for nonmonetary forms of rewards and incentives, such as additional time off.
Oh!pinion’s view: Bush-Republican economic policies strongly favor employers over workers. One aspect of this favoritism is to let the labor market remain soft.
An extremely soft labor market such as the one we’ve had since the 2001 recession and its lame recovery allows employers to choose among relatively large numbers of job seekers. A soft labor market also means there’s little need for employers to offer cash or other inducements to get and keep workers.
Bush administration and congressional Republican policies contributing to the soft labor market include a wide-open door for businesses to bring in foreign guest workers, tax breaks for corporations that send jobs to foreign countries, and other aspects of “free” trade that encourage offshore production of goods and services to be marketed to U.S. consumers, instead of creating goods and services here to sell abroad.
Our porous southern border, which allows as many as an estimated 3 million illegal aliens to join the U.S. labor force each year, also undermines the prospects of U.S. job seekers.
Recent federal statistics showing wage levels stagnant or declining as inflation starts to erode buying power are also results of current economic policies.
President Bush gives lip service to the need for control of our borders and for a level playing field where trade is concerned. So do some Republicans in Congress. But actions speak louder than words, and for the past four years their actions have done nothing to improve the lot of America’s working people. To the contrary, they’ve done plenty to undermine working Americans’ job security and economic well-being.
