Michael, why ask for comment on this? this kind of thing happens at one point or another in every business cycle. The news is that it took so long. It doesn't undermine the fact that the recovery is based on very high personal debt, a housing bubble, and a lot of foreign lending to the US, so that the recovery may end soon. It might also not happen right away, because large government deficits _do_ stimulate the economy (as do pretty low interest rates) even if there are long-term costs.
Further, the change from year to year doesn't really negate the long-term trend (since 1970 or so) toward increasing inequality in US society. That growth of inequality isn't simply between different groups of workers; it's also between classes. > Would one of our resident job experts, Doug/Max, comment on this? > > KRIS MAHER Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL July 12, 2005 > > In a sign of an improving U.S. job market, the growth of higher-paying > hourly jobs is outpacing that of lower-paying jobs for the first time in > nearly four years, according to an analysis of Labor Department data by > the Economic Policy Institute. > > The Washington-based liberal economic think tank, which has bemoaned the > dominance of low-paying jobs in recent years, compared year-over-year > employment growth and wage data for nonmanagerial jobs in 20 > private-sector industries. The analysis found that nine sectors > expanding as a share of total employment paid about 3% more in average > hourly wages than 11 sectors that were contracting in the first quarter. > That marked the first time since the most recent recession that > higher-wage jobs have grown faster as a share of total jobs. -- Jim Devine "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
