4 ms·

Can you site that $73/hour wage? A cursory glance around the internet indicated something around $30/hr as of last year. The only places I saw $73 were other fo

Can you site that $73/hour wage? A cursory glance around the internet indicated something around $30/hr as of last year. The only places I saw $73 were other forums, but maybe they all have a common, legit source.

rms 18y ago
I believe that $73/hour number includes all executive pay and obviously is an average chosen to misrepresent information. The average assembly line worker wage (and the median wage) is closer to $30.
- Prrometheus 18y ago
  I have seen the $73/hr number cited as non-executive compensation. That's total compensation, not just wages, which covers the cost of benefits and the like. edit: This has some links: http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2008/11/should-we-really-bail-out-7320-per-hour.html http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2008/11/should-we-really-bail-ou...
mdasen 18y ago
I cannot say what the previous person was referencing, but NPR has a great comparison of GM and Toyota at http://www.npr.org/news/specials/gmvstoyota/ http://www.npr.org/news/specials/gmvstoyota/ If you read the list, it looks like you're both (partially) correct. The average hourly salary for non-skilled assembly-line workers is a little over $31. However, GM's labor cost per hour exceeds $73/hour for those workers. So, in terms of GM's costs, it's over $73/hour. I'm guessing the UAW has structured it in a way that benefits the employees, but I can't imagine what benefits would be worth more than my salary. Seems to me like more in salary and less in benefits would appeal to me more.
- zach 18y ago
  Well, the reason employer-sponsored health care took off was that WWII wage controls were still around for years of the post-war economy. Growing employers, auto manufacturers in particular, could not offer higher wages to attract workers. So they offered employer-sponsored health programs and attractive pensions. In the 1970s, when Nixon brought back wage controls, they improved their low-deductible health care plans to no-deductible plans. Here's the scenario. From its boom era, Detroit ended up saddled with lots of pensions, expensive health care, and a special interest which fights cutbacks fiercely. It was basically building up an deficit that, when combined with horrible mismanagement, sent it into tremendous debt and would hobble it when it hit bad economic times and lost access to the capital markets. Does that scenario look familiar? That's about what's happening to the United States. Hey wait, did a presidential hopeful write this op-ed? Hmm.
- redrobot5050 18y ago
  No, see, people have the figure wrong. It costs GM $73/hour for labor because GM is still supporting retirees (that retire early, at age 50) with health care and a 70% salary pension. To cover those costs, for some reason, they cover it as "labor costs", This makes the union look bad, while simultaneously ignoring the fact that GM made tons of crap vehicles nobody wanted and has never tried to innovate.
newsycaccount 18y ago
http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/beat_the_press_archive?month=11&year=2008&base_name=gm_auto_workers_are_not_paid_7 http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/beat_the_press_archive?mo...

rms 18y ago

I believe that $73/hour number includes all executive pay and obviously is an average chosen to misrepresent information. The average assembly line worker wage (and the median wage) is closer to $30.

Prrometheus 18y ago
I have seen the $73/hr number cited as non-executive compensation. That's total compensation, not just wages, which covers the cost of benefits and the like. edit: This has some links: http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2008/11/should-we-really-bail-out-7320-per-hour.html http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2008/11/should-we-really-bail-ou...

mdasen 18y ago

I cannot say what the previous person was referencing, but NPR has a great comparison of GM and Toyota at http://www.npr.org/news/specials/gmvstoyota/ http://www.npr.org/news/specials/gmvstoyota/ If you read the list, it looks like you're both (partially) correct. The average hourly salary for non-skilled assembly-line workers is a little over $31. However, GM's labor cost per hour exceeds $73/hour for those workers. So, in terms of GM's costs, it's over $73/hour. I'm guessing the UAW has structured it in a way that benefits the employees, but I can't imagine what benefits would be worth more than my salary. Seems to me like more in salary and less in benefits would appeal to me more.

zach 18y ago
Well, the reason employer-sponsored health care took off was that WWII wage controls were still around for years of the post-war economy. Growing employers, auto manufacturers in particular, could not offer higher wages to attract workers. So they offered employer-sponsored health programs and attractive pensions. In the 1970s, when Nixon brought back wage controls, they improved their low-deductible health care plans to no-deductible plans. Here's the scenario. From its boom era, Detroit ended up saddled with lots of pensions, expensive health care, and a special interest which fights cutbacks fiercely. It was basically building up an deficit that, when combined with horrible mismanagement, sent it into tremendous debt and would hobble it when it hit bad economic times and lost access to the capital markets. Does that scenario look familiar? That's about what's happening to the United States. Hey wait, did a presidential hopeful write this op-ed? Hmm.
redrobot5050 18y ago
No, see, people have the figure wrong. It costs GM $73/hour for labor because GM is still supporting retirees (that retire early, at age 50) with health care and a 70% salary pension. To cover those costs, for some reason, they cover it as "labor costs", This makes the union look bad, while simultaneously ignoring the fact that GM made tons of crap vehicles nobody wanted and has never tried to innovate.

newsycaccount 18y ago

http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/beat_the_press_archive?month=11&year=2008&base_name=gm_auto_workers_are_not_paid_7 http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/beat_the_press_archive?mo...