CHART OF THE DAY…. After several years of the most sluggish economic expansion on record, wages for non-managerial workers finally turned up in 2007. But not for long. As this EPI chart shows, in October the growth halted and for the past three months it’s been, once again, negative:
A year ago, real hourly and weekly earnings grew on a yearly basis by over 2%; this January, they are both down by about 1%. Note also that over the past two months, due to the decline in average weekly hours — a function of the weakening job market — real weekly earnings are falling more quickly than hourly earnings.
But don’t worry. I’m sure another tax cut for the rich is in the hopper to fix this all up.