The MEDIAN salary in CA is now $29K, that is down 10% from 2000, but your wife is not only not losing her wages, she is increasing them. Right.

Yawnnnnneeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…………. and machinist don’t make diddly squat, even in the Bay Area, luck if they get $15 an hour.

No union, wholesale produce business. I don’t know if the competition is unionized.

Each employee meets with their boss, usually in June for evaluation. Raises vary depending on performance, usually somewhere around CPI.

Ironically, last year my wife did not receive a raise in July. They said she had an attitude problem. (I know, hard to believe, huh? What with my good influence and all). She was the only one not to get a raise, except for several that were “terminated”. She knows this because her main job is payroll. Not to worry, she got her raise within three months. And again in July this year.

COLAs are not extinct, it probably depends on which industry one is in. My son in law is a machinist in the Bay area. He was “furloughed” ( four day weeks) for a while in 2008/2009, but is back to full time now, with pay now increased for inflation. His daughter is in IT and doing very well.

I don’t have relatives in construction related industry. One of the sectors not doing well. Lack of demand? Or over regulation?

For what it’s worth, they told me in Econ class that the big strength of American business is that they learn how to get around government interference. I am not saying there are not too many regulations, but we cant blame the whole worldwide recession on the banning of plastic bags. Or on public worker pensions.

October 10, 2012 at 11:03 am

I am glad your business is doing well.

The situation you are describing is anecdotal evidence.

My wife works for a small business in California which has been expanding every year since she started there 7 years ago. Luckily for us, the business is doing very well and she has had COLAs equal to or better than the CPI every year. Profit sharing, 401(k), and good health insurance. She is in accounts payable/receiving, so she does see changes in HR regulations and taxes, workers comp.

Her employer deals with the regulations and is currently actively increasing the size of their facility and hiring more personnel.
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BULL!!!!

Nmae the business Dougie, or it never existed or happened.

As a former business owner and HR specialist, I know first hand just how much increasing regulations and tax increases impact business.

The upcoming cap-and-trade auctions and implementation of AB 32 will have a huge impact to businesses — especially food businesses, transportation companies, manufacturing of any kind, and any processing businesses which use heat. AB 32 is a tax on business, hidden in clean air regulations.

No one is asking for all regulations to be removed, but adding hundreds of new regulations every year is about nothing other than government expanding and dominance over the producers in the state.

Katy

The situation you are describing is anecdotal evidence.

My wife works for a small business in California which has been expanding every year since she started there 7 years ago. Luckily for us, the business is doing very well and she has had COLAs equal to or better than the CPI every year. Profit sharing, 401(k), and good health insurance. She is in accounts payable/receiving, so she does see changes in HR regulations and taxes, workers comp.

Her employer deals with the regulations and is currently actively increasing the size of their facility and hiring more personnel.

Again, anecdotal evidence.

The discussion is about government “killing” small business. I don’t disagree that regulations and taxes can can make business more difficult, or impossible. But even if ALL regulation and taxes were removed (can we agree that is a bad idea?), without consumer demand for your product or service, business is dead.

From what I read in the paper, most of the “shuttered windows and doors”, in my area are not because of increased regulations. They are from lack of consumer spending, as in furniture and appliance stores construction materials and services, largely due to home values.

Trouguie, please, no more, I am dying of laughter and can’t take anymore of it 😉

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