Troubling Statistics of the Week

In the spirit of Easter and the theme of resurrection, here are some numbers that we need to start thinking about in the spirit of change and new beginnings - -

• In the United States, companies pay on average $2.38 per hour of an employee's health care coverage.  The average for the rest of the world - - $0.98 per hour.  On top of this, Americans continue to die earlier and spend more time disabled than their peers in Europe and Japan.  We appear to be begging to take jobs someplace else, or find a robot that can do it instead.
• Between 1990 and 2008, the United States added 27.3 million jobs, of which almost everyone was in services.  Half of the jobs were in either health care or government.  In both of these sectors, productivity growth is virtually zero.  Anyone who has waited in an emergency room or doctor's office for 50 minutes or waited in line at the local Post Office understands the poor state of cost and technical efficiencies in our "growth industries."
• McKinsey is forecasting U.S. manufacturing would not add any net jobs to the U.S. economy between 2011 and 2021.  This was termed the "positive scenario."
• In Texas, the average high school sports coach makes $73,000, over $30,000 more than for a teacher in any other field at the same grade.