The following article from the New York Times is actually pretty awful. However, the admission that wages have failed to grow in 15 years is important. Particularly in light of the fact that we are five years into the second so-called ‘recovery’ since the turn of the century. These are recoveries that only Joseph Goebbels could love.
While the wage growth stagnation observation is helpful, what’s so sad about the article is that rather than dive into the underlying systemic issues driving this horrible statistic, the author spends most of the article explaining why we should be optimistic. It’s a nice try, but when systemic issues aren’t being addressed from a systemic standpoint, things don’t just magically get better.
Here are some excepts from the article as well as my commentary:
American workers have been receiving meager pay increases for so long now that it’s reasonable to talk in sweeping terms about the trend. It is the great wage slowdown of the 21st century.
The typical American family makes less than the typical family did 15 years ago, a statement that hadn’t previously been true since the Great Depression. Even as the unemployment rate has fallen in the last few years, wage growth has remained mediocre. Last week’s jobs report offered the latest evidence: The jobless rate fell below 6 percent, yet hourly pay has risen just 2 percent over the last year, not much faster than inflation. The combination has puzzled economists and frustrated workers.
This post was published at Liberty Blitzkrieg on Oct 8, 2014.
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