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Boston ITer · Guest

Here are some continuing anecdotes about pay cuts in various companies...

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/2009/03/09/daily3.html

http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/techtracks/2009/02/26/microsoft_temps_face_10_percent_pay_cut.html

http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2009/03/18/bus_515120.shtml

http://www.adn.com/money/story/728972.html

http://www.printweek.com/worldnews/news/883248/HP-cut-staff-wages-5-print-revenue-drops

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/mar2009/db20090325_626883.htm

Now, if this becomes let's say a worldwide contagion then other than a few top tier specialists, many wage earners will be subjected to downward pressure on their earnings. I can't imagine that the whole concept of stretching for a home to ever take off again, anytime in the intermediate to even distant future.

Brian C · Joined: 13 Feb 2009 Posts: 98

My company which I thought was pretty stable, just cut our salaries 10% for the rest of the year.

While our Westwood office is pretty small, across the US there's about 6,000 employees who are pretty sad today.

Boston ITer · Guest

balor123 · Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 1204

My company just isn't giving raises this year. Last year raises were given but not in Boston because their competition wasn't raising wages here. Also, they've told us that there will basically be no performance based compensation this year. Without inflation and raises, there's no room for companies to redistribute pay among employees. Engineers don't get commission so one has to wonder why we try any harder than just to keep our jobs.

balor123 · Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 1204

I would like to see more salary cuts simultaneously with raises. Employees would probably riot but it's basically the same as inflation + no raise for some.

WestCoastXPlant · Guest

balor123 · Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 1204

I don't know if you guys saw this article but this economist is causing quite a stir. Normally these posts get maybe a few comments but check it out! Anyway, I just wanted to point out that one of the comments mentions that the service economy - doctors, lawyers, financial advisers, etc - has held up quite well because those jobs are difficult to export. But you are correct that outsourcing is occurring everywhere. When labor doesn't take jobs, it puts pressure on wages.

We didn't have much of a shot at competing with manufacturing and other low skill jobs but we've held on to the high skill jobs, largely science, technology, and formerly finance (I'm assuming), but we didn't really care because they don't command much of a premium anyway. We'll see what happens when innovation moves to Asia. It's not clear to me that a semi-skilled Chinese worker will continue trading 100 hours of his time at a factory for 3 hours of a cashier's time in America.

balor123 · Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 1204

Oops... forgot the article

Hard Rain · Guest

Pay cuts? what pay cuts;

http://boston.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2009/03/23/daily42.html?surround=lfn

Boston ITer · Guest

As for doctors and lawyers, the reason why those fields are hard to offshore is that they basically require the person to be mainly licensed stateside with some guild restrictions, i.e. residency for MD, state bar exam {plus some junior associate time logged} for a Lawyer and most state bars don't except foreign law degrees, even elite ones from Britain, usually those Oxbridge/LSE types have to do an LLM at a Columbia or NYU to sit for the NY State Bar.

Really, medical school is an advance masters in Physiology with clinical electives. If the AMA didn't control the headcount, it too would be like engineering with thousands of applicants from abroad, sitting in on the USMLEs, while completing their studies anywhere else. Instead, it's rather tightly controlled so foreign medical grads, entering the US, are stuck taking the residencies which US/Canadian graduates don't want and are marked on a separated licensing exam.

For scientists and engineers, the corporate behemoths control their future so the Mercks and Microsofts will always harp about shortages to help lower wages and prevent any one set of elite engineers from becoming too invaluable, like neurosurgeons in medicine, who don't make less than $350K/yr anywhere in the country.

balor123 · Joined: 08 Mar 2008 Posts: 1204

$350k is little for a neurosurgeon. I met one surgeon, who was only about 30 years old, who said that they only make $300k now and that it's just not worth it. Going on, he said "and we don't get to see our kids until like 8pm on Friday night"! Yeah - it's a tough life. Many are a big like bankers. They just don't appreciate how good they've got it, even if they worked hard to get where they are.

I feel bad for primary care, though. I think they make an appropriate amount (~$150k) but they are straddled with all the same costs and regulations. Doctors shouldn't have to go to college and take a fake exam just to distinguish the really really determined from the really determined. Then have to pay extremely large sums for medical school then have to sit through residencies that seem to pay only $40k/yr no matter where you are (including NYC). Medicine may attract some of the smartest but it also attracts a lot of people who are just looking for good money.

Boston ITer · Guest

Rental Lease · Joined: 28 Jan 2009 Posts: 21

There's no question that the poor economy is leading to job and income cuts, which in turn are making people less likely to buy and more likely to default, both of which hurt the real estate market.
On the one hand it'll be nice to have more affordable housing, but on the other a booming real estate and rental industry make for a lot of jobs and a lot of money for a lot of people. I own a few properties that I've had to sign a rental agreement on, because I couldn't sell, and it's turned out ok but for a little while I was hurting pretty badly.
Anyway to the people out there who have lost their jobs or had their pay slashed, I feel your pain, as I was virtually unemployed for most of 2008. Good luck, and you might consider signing a rental agreement like I did instead of selling, as now is NOT the time to be trying to recoup any losses by selling real estate.
Cheers,
_____________________
Brian
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