First and foremost, Happy Day Before Labor Day

May you be perusing this Working section with your feet up, the game on, the pool or beach beckoning and a knowing smirk that most of us don't have to go to bed early tonight to hit the job early tomorrow. To those who must make the Monday morning trek: condolences. Below are five trends about working. This year, it's a mixed bag. On the self-esteem front, 90 percent of managers think they're among the top 10 percent of performers in their workplace. More than a third of people believe they got more done before the era of e-mail. And more than one in four workers 55 and older say they expect never to retire. Does all of that make us egotistical, techno-doubting workaholics? Not quite. Read on.

By Robert Trigaux, Times Business Editor
Published September 2, 2007

May you be perusing this Working section with your feet up, the game on, the pool or beach beckoning and a knowing smirk that most of us don't have to go to bed early tonight to hit the job early tomorrow. To those who must make the Monday morning trek: condolences. Below are five trends about working. This year, it's a mixed bag. On the self-esteem front, 90 percent of managers think they're among the top 10 percent of performers in their workplace. More than a third of people believe they got more done before the era of e-mail. And more than one in four workers 55 and older say they expect never to retire. Does all of that make us egotistical, techno-doubting workaholics? Not quite. Read on.

Trend 1 Treading water on paydays

Talk to most workers and you'll hear one steady complaint: Their wages seem to be stuck in single-digit gains at the same time that basic costs, from gasoline to food, housing to electricity, insurance to taxes, are on the rise. The point: People see their paychecks and feel like they're either treading water or slipping backward financially. Consider the evidence noted in more detail in Helen Huntley's column at right: While overall household income is rising, according to new census data, the pay of full-time workers actually fell.

Trend 2 Job cuts shift from building to lending

Layoffs know no favorites. In Florida, this year started with a range of announced job cuts, including construction layoffs courtesy of a stalled housing market. Now it's the lenders' turn for pink slips. Mortgage and financial jobs have been slashed across Florida as loan standards have tightened and the buying frenzy is gone.

Of the last 29 major layoffs in the state, as reported in the state's public "Warn" (Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act) notices, 17 of them totaling 1,037 jobs are cuts in the financial field.

Trend 3 Take this job and (mostly) love it

Most workers may whine at times, but they remain bullish about their actual jobs. A Gallup poll last year found 90 percent of workers were "completely" or "somewhat" satisfied with their jobs, while just 10 percent were "somewhat" or "completely" dissatisfied. That haschanged little in the past 25 years. In a decade, look for better working conditions, says a new Business Week magazine poll. Women and minorities will find it easier to get ahead. And "more of us will be on a first-name basis with someone in India," BW reported.

Trend 4 How much were you paid in 10 minutes?

It's no surprise by now that Fortune 500-level U.S. CEOs are paid in one day what the average worker earns in a year. A more valid outrage is that the top 20 chiefs of the private equity and hedge fund world were paid an average U.S. worker's annual paycheck (that's $29,544) every 10 minutes. That translates into average annual pay of $657.5-million - apiece - for these 20 financial executives.

The bigger story here is that the pay of the top tier of Americans continues to run away from the rest of the population, aggravating the disparity in the workplace and society.

Trend 5 Like better pay? Stay in school

Education makes a big difference in pay and job security. You are likely to earn more and stay employed as your formal education increases. Employers are hiring workers with higher levels of education as more jobs become more sophisticated.

Consider these typical hourly wages from 2007. Workers with less than high school: $11.40. High school: $15.14. College: $26.46. Advanced degree: $33.49. There's just one catch: There's no guarantee your pay will increase any faster just because you happen to be better educated.

[Last modified August 31, 2007, 15:24:29]