Real Wages and Compensation Down

This disturbing report from the Economic Policy Institute:

For the first time in this employers' costs report, the BLS presented these values adjusted for inflation. Both wages and compensation are losing growth in real terms, down 2.3% and 1.5%, respectively, as slower nominal wage growth is colliding with faster inflation. In both cases, these are the largest yearly real losses on record.
. . .
Yet the wage and compensation results show that this growth is failing to show up in hourly earnings. This has two implications. First, the view that increasing labor costs are pushing up prices is clearly not supported by these data. There is no evidence of an over-heating labor market that needs to be cooled by Federal Reserve rate hikes. Second, the resulting stagnant hourly wages will make it hard for working families to truly get ahead.

Read the whole article. It's short.

Tune in to C-Span to listen to your favorite Republican Congress person lobby for more trickle down economics.