A supposedly important topic during the last presidential campaign for the Obama administration was wages and American job growth. Well so much for that whole “Change” message because things are getting worse.
The World Economic Forum is reporting that wage growth is stagnant and well below the normal growth line.
The article states,
Wages rose in July at just a 2.1 percent rate over the past year, similar to the 2.0 percent annual growth in June. For production and nonsupervisory workers, who comprise about four-fifths of the workforce, the annual rate of wage growth was only 1.8 percent. The U.S. economy did add 215,000 jobs in July, gaining more than 30,000 jobs in each of the retail, health care, and accommodation and food services industries. After prior revisions, the average monthly job gains over the last three months have been about 235,000.
Although this kind of employment growth would be a positive development in a very tight labor market, the current rate of job gains will keep distant the goal of full employment. Even though the overall unemployment rate was 5.3 percent last month, the same as in June, the employed share of the prime-age population, ages 25 to 54, was 77.1 percent last month, basically unchanged from where the rate has been stuck at 77.2 percent for five of the six prior months. This is well below its average of 79.9 percent in 2007 before the start of the Great Recession.
For further proof of this, the graph below shows that we’ve hit a plateau in the hiring rates as well.
This information is highly concerning and just puts a larger lens on our backward presidential administration. I personally cannot wait until 2016 when we have a good Republican in the White House to counteract all the bad that’s been going on the last 7 years. Get involved America! Call your local representatives and tell them we will not stand for anything short of excellence from our head of government! We need real change now.