Top 3 US employers..Walmart, YUM Brands, McDonalds...5 of top 10 are low ends sales..

[Engineer]

Note: Private employers - US government still largest employer.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/10-largest-employers-america-103810924.html?page=1

1. Walmart
2. Yum Brands (KFC, etc)
3. McDonalds
4. IBM
5. UPS
6. Target
7. Kroger
8. Home Depot
9. HP
10. GE

The top 3 employers in the US provide lower wage jobs with little to no benefits. 5 of top 10 are lower end sales with possibly 6 if you count Home Depot. Kroger has a union but if it's the same as it was when I was there, they pay you minimum wage and then collect union dues FROM that (aka - you make less than minimum wage after union dues). A nation of consumers.....selling stuff to each other. What a path to forward prosperity.

The result of decades of tearing out the foundation - middle class jobs - and this is what you get. Enjoy!

 

[monovillage]

2.7 million Federal civilian employees
http://www.numberof.net/number-of-federal-employees-2/

 

[Engineer]

2.7 million Federal civilian employees
http://www.numberof.net/number-of-federal-employees-2/

I'll change the OP to "PRIVATE" employers. Doesn't change the premise.

Also, federal worker levels are dropping. Of course, they exploded over the last decade or so with homeland security and other bullshit stuff like that being pulled into the government.

 

[Attic]

Would you like fries with that?

 

[nageov3t]

well, those top 3 are typically jobs with little/no skill requirements and a low bar to entry for new employees.

for 99% of people, I'd imagine they're just stepping stones along the way to something better.

I worked at Burger King part-time in high school... moved on to temping, a customer service job at a phone bank, then finally a real grown up job when I finished with school.

 

[Engineer]

well, those top 3 are typically jobs with little/no skill requirements and a low bar to entry for new employees.

for 99% of people, I'd imagine they're just stepping stones along the way to something better.

I worked at Burger King part-time in high school... moved on to temping, a customer service job at a phone bank, then finally a real grown up job when I finished with school.

Sure, there are many that go in and out of employment at these places but it's an increasing number of people who are being displaced from better paying middle class jobs that have no other choice but to take one of the above jobs. Walmart alone accounts for nearly 1% of US jobs....that's staggering. Throw in McDonalds and Yum and you're looking at nearly 2%.

30 years ago, GM lead the way with 500,000 job. Jobs where people were building things....building wealth. Now they are selling Chinese made products.

I once read that stage #6 (of 7) of the decline of every empire was 'using the slave labor of conquered lands for your goods and services'. We are at Defcon 6 (stage #6) based on that.

A nation of producers to a nation of sellers never lasts.....

 

[bradley]

A slow insidious cancer is eating away at the middle class. And somehow the clueless upper-middle class believes there's a demarcation line between their eroding power base and the eventual cancer. Good luck.

http://www.demos.org/blog/7/26/13/falling-upper-middle-class-new-data-downward-mobility

 

[Engineer]

A slow insidious cancer is eating away at the middle class. And somehow the clueless upper-middle class believes there's a demarcation line between their eroding power base and the eventual cancer. Good luck.

http://www.demos.org/blog/7/26/13/falling-upper-middle-class-new-data-downward-mobility

If you read my posts, you'll often see me talking about tearing the foundation out and watching the building fall. As the foundation (middle class) gets destroyed, the rest of the building falls (including those in the middle, upper middle and top floors). Those with helicopters and parachutes will be the only ones that survive......but will flee the wreckage that they leave behind.

From your article....

Still, this startling new data about downward mobility for the upper middle class confirms a lot of what we at Demos -- and many others -- have been saying in recent years about the fate of young Americans. Whereas many older Americans grew up in a land of plenty, with lots of good middle class jobs, very low college tuition costs, and plentiful cheap housing, the experience of many Xers and Millennials has been very different: crappy service jobs amid de-industrialization, crushing student debt loads, and crazily high home costs -- especially in major metro area on the coasts.

Pretty telling....

(underlined for 'offshoring').

By the way, you will be surprised at the number of people in this very forum that love offshoring of America's middle class jobs, stating that the service industry is so much better and that they are somehow above the reach of the "cancer" which your posts mentions. Truly head in the sand territory here.....

 

[sportage]

By the way, you will be surprised at the number of people in this very forum that love offshoring of America's middle class jobs, stating that the service industry is so much better and that they are somehow above the reach of the "cancer" which your posts mentions. Truly head in the sand territory here.....

Thats what Im waiting for. The day technology catches up to fast food.
Order a Big Mac at McDonalds, the order is zapped to some China service center, someone in China making 3 cents an hour assembles your Big Mac, its sent back to the local McDonalds at lightening speed via transporter technology, and seconds later a robot bags up your order.

THEN where will all the US human based jobs come from???
Oh I know... Crime!

 

[Engineer]

Thats what Im waiting for. The day technology catches up to fast food.
Order a Big Mac at McDonalds, the order is zapped to some China service center, someone in China making 3 cents an hour assembles your Big Mac, its sent back to the local McDonalds at lightening speed via transporter technology, and seconds later a robot bags up your order.

THEN where will all the US human based jobs come from???
Oh I know... Crime!

Restaurants are already testing offshoring their drive through window order taker. The order is taken by an offshore call center along with a photo of the driver of the car placing the order. That is transmitted to the restaurant so that the order filler can see the correct match between the driver and their order. This was tested a few years ago in Winchester, KY Wendy's and has been discussed at other locations.

Throw in stuff like self checkout and now you see that even the bottom of the jobs are being offshored or automated. The cancer is killing the bottom but is working its way up to the middle / middle top and the "smug" people in those locations who think it won't / can't effect them are in for the rude awaking that's coming.

 

[WackyDan]

McDonald's and Yum brands is highly franchised. There are corp stores, but by and large the rest are owned by owner/operators where they own a single store or several+. So the employer in those cases is not actually McDonalds.

I always find fault with the way those jobs are counted.

While IBM has over 400k Employees worldwide, I'm not entirely sure how many are in the USA anymore.

 

[ShagglestheLion]

Interesting why Walmart being branded as the Top and UPS being as they don't even work with Walmart, is on the list.

Walmart uses FedEx.

The White Horse.

 

[AmdEmAll]

When I worked at Kroger about 10 years ago you had to pay Union dues but it was $75 or 100 or something and then you were in the food union for life. The pay started out shit but you could work your way up to maybe 12-14 an hour from what I remember (woohoo!).

Now that I think about it did they still take some sort of dues out even after you were in the union? Can't remember now

 

[Jimzz]

The IBM rating may be higher than some think. They have been exporting jobs for a while now and stopped giving head counts as well.

Just had some layoffs and now doing furloghs with more layoffs coming so they don't have to pay 401k.

While IBM has over 400k Employees worldwide, I'm not entirely sure how many are in the USA anymore.

:thumbsup:

 

[PokerGuy]

I have to agree with Engineer, we've now starting to reap the rewards of decades of multiple factors ripping out the middle class. It's not just one particular thing, it's a convergence of technology, policies, politics, greed etc that have been destroying the middle class. I don't think there's a whole lot anyone can do at this point to 'fix' it.

 

[Genx87]

Target is a low end brand? Compared to what? Macys?

 

[Genx87]

I have to agree with Engineer, we've now starting to reap the rewards of decades of multiple factors ripping out the middle class. It's not just one particular thing, it's a convergence of technology, policies, politics, greed etc that have been destroying the middle class. I don't think there's a whole lot anyone can do at this point to 'fix' it.

Or we are finally seeing the roosters come home to roost after decades of throwing trillions of dollars at shielding the middle class from the inevitable. Globalization of labor markets.

I agree, there probably isnt much we can do about it. We can pretend it isnt happening and throw up some trade walls. That may help for a decade. But walls have never worked in the long run at stopping things like this.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

It's good to see so many people waking up to the reality of our situation. My only hope now is that disaster can be avoided by continuing to spread the truth. America is the shining light of the world, has been longer than any of us have been alive, the world is begging us to be that country again.

 

[Texashiker]

America is the shining light of the world, has been longer than any of us have been alive, the world is begging us to be that country again.

I have to respectfully disagree.

We work more hours then other first world nations, we give our jobs away at the expense of the middle class, our healthcare is expensive, we have one of the highest infant mortality rates of all first world nations,,,.

If anything, we are the laughing stock of the world.

Capitalism built the United States.

Unbridled capitalism coupled with greed will be our undoing.

The list in the opening post is an example of our future. With no manufacturing jobs to support the middle class our foundation has been stripped away.

 

[Atreus21]

Sure, there are many that go in and out of employment at these places but it's an increasing number of people who are being displaced from better paying middle class jobs that have no other choice but to take one of the above jobs. Walmart alone accounts for nearly 1% of US jobs....that's staggering. Throw in McDonalds and Yum and you're looking at nearly 2%.

30 years ago, GM lead the way with 500,000 job. Jobs where people were building things....building wealth. Now they are selling Chinese made products.

And what happened to GM again?

 

[Texashiker]

And what happened to GM again?

Greed and poorly designed products.

If you compare Toyota and GM, GM sold more cars and trucks then Toyota. But Toyota made more money per sale then GM.

Toyota also has a higher customer satisfaction rate then GM.

Why should a company worry about quality, when the government is there to bail them out?

After owning a Toyota, I doubt I will ever buy a GM, Ford or Dodge ever again.

 

[xBiffx]

Greed and poorly designed products.

If you compare Toyota and GM, GM sold more cars and trucks then Toyota. But Toyota made more money per sale then GM.

Toyota also has a higher customer satisfaction rate then GM.

Why should a company worry about quality, when the government is there to bail them out?

After owning a Toyota, I doubt I will ever buy a GM, Ford or Dodge ever again.

Have you driven a Ford, lately? :whiste:

They also don't fit your description of GM, not in the slightest.

 

[Texashiker]

Have you driven a Ford, lately? :whiste:

They also don't fit your description of GM, not in the slightest.

The company I work for, our fleet are fords. We have a combination of ford escapes and ford cars.

So yea, I drive a ford product a couple of times a month.

 

[xBiffx]

The company I work for, our fleet are fords. We have a combination of ford escapes and ford cars.

So yea, I drive a ford product a couple of times a month.

Wonder why the company went Ford for fleet instead of GM. :hmm:

BTW, same way at the company I work for. Mostly F-150's and F-250's though.

 

[Texashiker]

Wonder why the company went Ford for fleet instead of GM. :hmm:

Considering there is not a toyota dealership for almost 75 miles, and there is a ford dealership here in town.