The myth of wage stagnation in the United States: revisiting the 'decoupling' debate
Plus, Australia’s May monthly CPI and Q2 GDP nowcast
The typical US worker earns better pay and benefits than ever before, entered the labour force after the era of stagnant wages had already ended, has seen significant gains in hourly wages and family income over the past three decades and enjoys overwhelming job satisfaction and job security. These are some of the conclusions from a new report by The American Worker Project of the Economic Innovation Group. If those findings come as a surprise to you, well they shouldn’t.
The evidence presented in the report is very much at odds not only with popular but also elite perceptions of long-run trends in the US labour market and real wages. The American Worker Project is sub-titled ‘Toward a New Consensus,’ proceeding on the basis that the existing mistaken consensus is a poor foundation for public policy. As the report notes, the US ‘policy debate is cluttered with imaginary solutions to non-existent problems that bear little connection to the real challenges workers face and how to solve them.’