The American workplace on the eve of Labor Day 2001 is a study in contradictions. The nation's struggling economy is leaving its workers struggling as well, and in the Tristate, people are working harder and longer. Many have more than one job as a slowing economy brings a dip in raises and bonuses. That, in turn, could slow consumer spending as economic worry and consumer debt begin to haunt average American households.

        “Is the weekly paycheck ever enough?” asked Ervin Mitchell, a 37-year-old paramedic/firefighter since 1991 for Cincinnati. “Probably not.”

        That means that thousands of workers — certainly the brotherhood of firefighters, Mr. Mitchell says — must take on second jobs to make ends meet.

        “I'm working a 65-hour to 75-hour work week every week and almost every firefighter is doing that. Next week, I'll look at 110 hours,” Mr. Mitchell said. “Everybody has a second job.

        “I know firefighters who are electricians, lawyers, nurse assistants, master plumbers, dog-fence installers, you name it.”

        The world of work in Greater Cincinnati on this holiday to honor workers offers insight into several trends:

        • Stagnant wages.

        • Compensation that is not necessarily measured in dollars.

        • Long hours.

        • A pending worker shortage.

        • The self-fulfillment that comes from creating jobs.
       

Working longer

               Flattening salaries is a familiar scenario for certified public accountant Peter A. Beck. How have the economic times and the workplace changed in recent months? For the worse for employers and employees alike, he says.

        From his desk in West Chester at the offices of Umble, Gayhart & Jacobsen, the accountant hears daily from companies about how people are working harder and longer but for less compensation.

        “Business owners are putting in more time and sales are decreasing,” he said. “Profit margins are rising from labor, food or manufacturing costs and net margins are decreasing.”

        The cycle is finding traction. With unemployment in Ohio coasting at 4.2 percent, which is historically tight, workers are still in great demand and will leave one job for even a modest increase in wages.

        “Employees move to new jobs depending upon the industry for the highest dollars because they have to provide for their families,” Mr. Beck said. “That makes it hard to compete in the small business arena when companies are constantly trying to outbid in a tight labor market.”

        Workers in the Hamilton-Cincinnati metropolitan area averaged $16.68 an hour in September 2000, the last year for which figures are available, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.

        White-collar workers averaged $20.47 an hour and represented 49 percent of the workers in the region, while blue-collar workers averaged $14.78 an hour and represented 29 percent of the work force.

        The remaining 22 percent worked in service occupations and earned an average of $10.37 an hour. The survey covered 451 firms and 456,900 workers in five counties in Ohio, six counties in Kentucky and two counties in Indiana.

        According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Department of Commerce, wages in the past decade have not kept pace with profits — particularly at the low end of the pay scale.

        As detailed in the book Raise the Floor by Holly Sklar, Laryssa Mykyta and Susan Wefald ($9.95; Ms. Foundation for Women), from 1990 to 2000, the minimum wage increased 2.9 percent while corporate profits rose by 67 percent and retail profits increased by 196 percent. Average hourly earnings increased by 4.2 percent.
       

Deeper in debt

               Al Gini, a professor of philosophy and human resources at Loyola University of Chicago and author of My Job My Self: Work and the Creation of the Modern Individual, said some households are in a state of economic shock.

        “Seven to 11 percent of the American population has a second job, but even that is on the decline because jobs are drying up,” said Mr. Gini. “There is panic among plenty in a post-subsistence economy.

        “When you ask people what they want from work, everybody always says more time off. I think it's because people are working so many hours. And they are working those hours because everybody is living close to the bone.”

        With the average household having consumer debt of $8,000, 13 credit cards and two people working full-time, he wonders what the future holds. “We are addicted to consumption,” he said.

        Eric Wolfer is 28, a farmer who for now has few worries about the economy. He follows weather reports, not the consumer price index. But bring on a drought, and Mr. Wolfer loses sleep like every other embattled small-business owner who faces uncertain revenues.

        He is not your typical farmer. He is comparatively young, a member of the state's Farm Bureau board of directors and has a business and accounting degree from the University of Cincinnati. What's more, a couple of times a year he travels to Washington, D.C., to visit officials and foreign embassies as an example of the average American farmer.

        “The one thing other embassies from other countries say is that it's been a long time since Americans have gone hungry. People forget what it takes to produce food,” he said.

        And what it takes is this: regular rain, sweat, deep pockets and credit. He said it costs about $280 per acre each growing season to grow one acre of corn — $180 per acre for soybeans — and that's why farmers always have more equity than cash.
       

Economic pressures

               The farm on the Clermont-Brown County line near Fayetteville has six tractors and two combines. A new tractor costs $100,000, while a combine costs $180,000. As equipment ages, reinvestment is mandatory.

        It costs $800 for a tractor tire while the combine tire costs $1,200. Consider that this farm has more than 100 tires on equipment.

        “From the dollar side, most farms' gross is bigger than most small businesses,” he said. “I don't think people realize that.”

        He said farmers are always short on cash and high on equity: “If I added up the hours I work and what I make, it's probably about 25 cents an hour. I work maybe 100 hours a week.”

        And so does his father, Anthony, the only other full-time employee on the farm. Eric Wolfer points out that his compensation must always be measured against a scale much broader than dollars and cents.

        How do you put a price tag on the freedom of being your own boss? On seeing from afar a nesting bald eagle build an aerie of inch-thick sticks? On watching the sun rise and set day after day after day during an Ohio autumn harvest?

        Other occupations, like teaching, attract people who also measure compensation in ways not easily defined. What's it worth when a student taught years before grows into a young man and approaches his former teacher in a mall to thank him for his dedication?

        “That happened to me at Florence Mall last weekend,” said Randy Hebel, a 38-year-old teacher at Cold Spring Elementary, who works with children with behavior disabilities.

        “He recognized me, told me how well he was doing and that he was on track to get his high school diploma, that he was working at a job. I told him I was proud of him and to keep working hard,” he said. “That kind of stuff is priceless.”
       

Lack of satisfaction

               But those experiences don't pay for $450 graduate level continuing education classes, the $100 worth of books for that class and the $50 parking pass that gets tacked on for good measure.

        “Monday was our first night at Northern Kentucky (University),” Mr. Hebel said. “The subject of teacher salaries came up, and I have to tell you there was a lot of dissatisfied people in the class.”

        In these challenging economic times, employees are not alone in the belt-tightening, said accountant Beck. “Owners and shareholders are taking less and dipping into bonuses and dividends because of the tightening of the profit margins.”

        Other factors are chilling business growth, too. Health insurance is rising at 15 percent to 25 percent annually while the threat of a spurious lawsuit frightens even the toughest business owner.

        “Generally, you can cut expenses or raise prices but if you raise prices, you're going to lose sales. Generally, people are making more and earning less,” he said.

        When dentist Rebecca Donaldson, a Villa Hills resident, took over the Mount Adams Dentistry in April, she knew it would take time to build her practice, and one strategy was evening hours.

        “It seems like my patients are always busy,” Dr. Donaldson said. “They want those evening hours because they don't want to take time off work to go to a dentist, or maybe they own their own business and can't take off at the drop of a hat.”

        For now, she said, she is earning less than she did as an associate dentist, but has faith that her business will grow.

        “And I think it's so cool that I'm in a position that I can help other people make a living,” she said. “All I wanted to do was create a good place for others to work and I'm glad I'm in a position to do that.”

        Her practice has three full-time and two part-time employees. Experts say that finding workers is likely to be a big hurdle for most companies in the decades to come. The Employment Policy Foundation predicts that 61 million workers will retire within 30 years.
       

Some predictions

               That will mean a worker shortage of 5 million people by 2011 and a 36 million worker shortfall by 2031. What's more, the economy will have a shortfall of 20 million college-educated workers.

        Failing to close that labor gap will erode gross domestic product growth by at least 3 percent in the next decade and 17 percent in 30 years, the foundation determined.

        That brings a lowered per-capita income of $47,000 in 30 years instead of the $57,000 at the current rate of domestic product growth.

        “If you do not close this labor and skills shortage, it could start showing up as soon as five years from now when the employment rate falls below 4 percent,” said Dan Lara, director of communications for the foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research group based in Washington, D.C.

        In the meantime, paramedic Mitchell has no plans to slow down. “The money you make gives you an opportunity to change your horizon and perspective,” he said. “Socioeconomic barriers limit the scope of your vision.”

        And Mr. Mitchell is big on vision:

        “I think what people have to do is maximize what they can do to improve their lives,” he said.

        “Have a good work ethic. Have a plan. Set high standards for your kids. It takes maturity, focus and initiative because where there is no vision, the people will perish.”

America at work:
A 2001 snapshot

               As an economic slowdown rolls through the nation, the Employment Policy Foundation, a nonprofit and nonpartisan research group based in Washington, D.C., offers a snapshot of work in America in 2001:

        • Total employment in the workplace reached a record of almost 136 million in January 2001.

        • The current unemployment level is lower than in any period since 1950.

        • Total employment in July was estimated to be more than 135 million, almost 500,000 more than in June and more than 400,000 more than in July 2000.

        • More than 9 million jobs have been created in the past five years.

        • Dual-earner married couples are now the most common household type in the American workplace, at 38 percent of households.

        • Almost 60 percent of employees in management and related occupations have at least a bachelor's degree, and that proportion is expected to increase to more than 70 percent by 2030.

        • Total compensation for the typical full-time worker was $46,072, which is $34,590 in wages and $11,482 in benefits.

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