Standing By on NAM Labor Day Report

Off the wire from our friends at NAM:

**MEDIA ADVISORY**

Study Shows Energy Costs Shrinking the Pie for America'’s Workers

WHO:

• John Engler, NAM President and CEO, National Association of Manufacturers

• David Huether, NAM Chief Economist

WHAT: NAM President John Engler will address the media on the results of the NAM'’s annual Labor Day report. The report provides a snapshot of the past year'’s economic trends as they relate to the American worker. As production jobs in manufacturing have posted their strongest gains since 1998 and production has increased at its fastest pace in six years, surging energy prices are decreasing workers'’ take-home pay. Along with David Huether, the NAM'’s chief economist, Gov. Engler will discuss how the manufacturing sector can continue to expand by turning toward a reliable domestic energy supply.

WHEN: 10:00 a.m.
Monday, August 28, 2006

WHERE: NAM Headquarters' —Industry Room
1331 Pennsylvania Ave, NW Suite 600
Washington, DC

Full report expected anytime now. We'll provide a link as soon as possible.

UPDATE: Report is in (PDF). From the press release:

“But while workers’ total compensation has continued to outpace inflation, wages have not,” Huether said. “Surging energy prices have propelled inflation at a faster pace than workers’ take-home pay and have resulted in declines in real wages for working Americans.”

“Over the past year energy prices have risen 23 percent due to increased global demand, limited domestic supplies, natural disasters and global instability,” Engler said. “As a result, real wages have fallen by 0.5 percent over the past year when they should have gone up by 1.2 percent.

“The time has come to build a national energy policy to address these costs by increasing domestic production and supply,” Engler said. “Our nation was galvanized around the Manhattan Project, we put a man on the moon, and 50 years ago, we created the Interstate Highway System. If we marshal that same national spirit of cooperation, unity and focus, we can ensure energy security.”

Technorati tags: Energy, Technology, Environment, Electricity, Economics, NAM