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As bad as the current job recovery has been â and it's by far the weakest since World War II â the recovery in wages has been far worse.
Five years after the recession began in December 2007, total wages in the economy have yet to fully recover in real terms, Commerce Department data show. In other words, the wage recession continues.
By comparison, the longest previous post-war wage recession, which began with the 2001 downturn, was over in 2-1/2 years, even though that jobs recession lasted four years.
In recoveries past, wage recessions have ended long before payrolls hit new highs. But in the current expansion, wages and employment are on the same slow track to recovery. Both remain about 2% below their old peaks.
Sixty months after the start of the 2001 recession, where we are now in the current cycle, wages were already nearly 8% above their prior peak, though payrolls were just 2% higher. A similar recovery would have boosted current wages by about $650 billion annually.
The early 1980s, marked by high inflation, saw real wages recover from one recession only to fall again before staging a more durable rebound. But the current wage recession has outlasted even that era of real wage stagnation.
http://news.investors.com/economy/022813-646108-wage-recession-worse-than-jobs-slump.htm
As bad as the current job recovery has been â and it's by far the weakest since World War II â the recovery in wages has been far worse.
Five years after the recession began in December 2007, total wages in the economy have yet to fully recover in real terms, Commerce Department data show. In other words, the wage recession continues.
By comparison, the longest previous post-war wage recession, which began with the 2001 downturn, was over in 2-1/2 years, even though that jobs recession lasted four years.
In recoveries past, wage recessions have ended long before payrolls hit new highs. But in the current expansion, wages and employment are on the same slow track to recovery. Both remain about 2% below their old peaks.
Sixty months after the start of the 2001 recession, where we are now in the current cycle, wages were already nearly 8% above their prior peak, though payrolls were just 2% higher. A similar recovery would have boosted current wages by about $650 billion annually.
The early 1980s, marked by high inflation, saw real wages recover from one recession only to fall again before staging a more durable rebound. But the current wage recession has outlasted even that era of real wage stagnation.
http://news.investors.com/economy/022813-646108-wage-recession-worse-than-jobs-slump.htm