“The absence of any growth over the last five years in real average weekly earnings for 80 percent of workers is particularly striking given the fact that productivity has been soaring. The Labor Department reports that nonfarm business productivity (output per hour of labor) has increased nearly 17 percent during the past five years ending in the second quarter of this year. Yet the cumulative increase in the average real hourly earnings of production/nonsupervisory workers has been only 2 percent, rising from $8 per hour in the second quarter of 2000 to $8.16 per hour (constant 1982 dollars) for the second quarter of 2005. (In fact, during the last two years, when nonfarm business productivity has increased by 6.6 percent, the average real hourly wage for production/nonsupervisory workers has actually declined.)
Other data indicate that incomes have stagnated for a large portion of U.S. families. For example, the median level of real household income has actually declined from a cyclical peak of $44,922 in 1999 to $43,318 in 2003, the latest year for which statistics are available. This $1,600 difference reflects a decline of 4 percent.” THIS IS FROM 2005 but is still relevant. The trend continues and now the bubble will really hurt workers.
link: http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20050824-091828-7473r.htm
