FALLING WAGES

"Globalisation has reduced the bargaining power of unskilled workers and pushed up inequality in many western countries, the OECD said yesterday, urging governments to improve their social safety nets. The Paris-based rich nations club said in its annual Employment Outlook that the prospect of off shoring was likely to have increased the vulnerability of jobs and wages in developed countries. ...The report pointed to a "remarkable" fall in the share of wages of national income in OECD member countries in the past couple of decades. Japanese wages have fallen by around a quarter as a share of GDP in the past 30 years, while they have dropped 13% in the 15 wealthier European Union countries and 7% in the United States, the report showed. US wages as a share of GDP remain ahead of those in the EU." (Guardian, 20 June) Another example of how the development of capitalism only benefits the owning class.RD