In the United States, there is a high need for Unions and changes in the workforce. But what changes and why? Like the Decline in unions, changes in education, and now why would you like a union? But first, let’s see how they trick you into not knowing real data on income averages
Income Average
In the state of Iowa from your normal evaluation of statistics if you search on the US Bureau of Labor or search for information under census bureau. You will notice it reports the income average for Iowa and the Unites states at an average of around $60,000 yearly. But what is the catch? That most people and government agencies don’t point out. It is that it is based on Household.
Now, why does household matter? Well, if you search Google for “average income for Linn County Iowa.” You will get a result of Linn County per individual as only $34,368 per year based on multiple sources on this link. They also point out the average incomes of counties in Iowa per individual not per household.
When done individually instead of household, you will notice that there is only one county with an average of individuals making a total of more than $40,000 per year and not even a handful of counties making the upper $30,000’s.
When you add all counties’ average individual incomes for the data on the website and divide it by 99 (the total of counties in Iowa) you get the result of the total average of working individual’s income being $20,518. This is startling. And how is that possible?
- Household calculations
One key thing to remember is that the result is individual not household. When calculating a household, there are normally multiple sources of income from family members or roommates who share the household expenses. They don’t want you to know that as an only source of income, you will probably be at the income level of the low middle class or in the high poor class. And the States never want you to know that.
Decline in Unions
Another key reason is the downfall of unions in the United States. On the US Bureau of Labor website at this link. (2) They point out that there is a record of 1.5 million people in the workforce of Iowa and of 2022 only 103,00 members unions in Iowa and 132,000 people represented by unions. One of the main reasons for this is that Manufacturers and skilled workers have declined in America over the last couple of decades. For multiple reasons.
- The NAFTA (North America free trade agreement) was passed by President Clinton in 1991. This made it much easier for manufacturers to move their factories to foreign countries, without having any consequences on the price of manufacturing and the price of their products.
- With America’s international actions in World War 2 and beyond. And afterward, with things such as NAFTA, the world has become more globalized. And foreign affairs affect the basic demand and supply algorithm of business and the pricing of products.
- Making it with logical sense, it is much cheaper for products to be made in third-world countries. Instead of the modern industrial world. Where labor is higher cost because of more safety and health regulations. Which supports the people of the unions.
- Another key reason for Decline in Unions is because of the manufacturing decline, with a high percentage of American individuals working in the commercial industry and in the retail industry instead of manufacturing.
Change in Education
If you were born in the 80’s and early 90’s you would remember the high push from your teachers and counselors for the need to have a college education. The push for a 4-year degree was crazy back then. Along with there being little to almost no education provided in school for the trade industry.
On this website, they point out that the “No child left behind program” forced schools to shut down trade classes and push students to focus on college. And as a graduate of 99, I am 100% witness to the school pushing for college more than anything for your journey after high school.
The NPR reported that there was a 49% drop in labor and trade works between 2020 and 2022. There was a high drop rate of vocational degree programs because of COVID, and the shutdown forced people to work from home and students to be taught online not in person. Hands-on training is how to truly learn craftsmanship and trade skills.
Because of the lack of manufacturing workers, craftsmanship, and trade workers, the average individual income has declined.
- There are over 2 million people working for Walmart itself. With 9.8 million people being the full population of the retail industry. In Iowa alone, Hy-Vee is the leading employment source with Casey’s general story third on the list. Meaning the commercial industry is strong in Iowa. But only 5% nationally of retail workers are in unions.
Now why would you like a union?
The key thing to understanding, especially if you are just joining the workforce or changing careers, is that unions are a true benefit.
The carpenter’s union has an average of around $33 an hour, which equals around $68,000 a year just doing 40 hours a week with no overtime. Now compare that to the average income of an individual in Iowa of only $20,518. Significant difference. You will notice that most craftsmanship unions are all close to that much for a yearly income.
Now catch this, what about insurance? Well, you will notice most retail or non-union jobs do not have work insurance. Retail businesses are more likely to have you do just a 30-hour week to just keep you under the 40-hour requirement. Because of the federal law, the Affordable Care Act, businesses are required to provide insurance for full-time employees if they have 50 full-time employees or more.
Unions help with making it so that no matter what the business has for full-time employees, even with 50 or fewer full-time employees they can be forced to provide insurance.
This also goes with overtime, vacations, sick leave, etc. This all explains that unions can help provide a better situation related to work and the unions can be in almost any workforce.
This also goes with overtime, vacations, sick leave, etc. This all explains that unions can help provide a better situation related to work and the unions can be in almost any workforce
If you and your fellow co-workers want a better environment, livable wages, retirement, and health benefits at your job, then unionizing is a thing to look into