“[They also focus on two areas - healthcare and energy - where inflation is eating away at spending power.] You either need wages to pick up or inflation to slow down, ... There may be a bit of both in coming months.”
“These losses may reflect the fact that consumers facing higher energy prices and falling real [inflation-adjusted] wages are cutting back on discretionary spending.”
“[Yet this peppering of data notwithstanding, economists are not too sanguine about the immediate prospects for income growth on the bottom rungs of the wage scale.] The job market is slowly tightening, ... We are wringing out the slack. But we're only six months into a process that could take a year and a half.”
“The economy's doing fine, except if you figure in working families, ... We're posting great numbers in aggregate demand, yet the lousiest on record for wage growth.”
“We did not see the tremendous upsurge in injuries we thought we might get, ... It gets really difficult when it is tremendously hot during the night - not just when it is really hot days, but when it is really hot weeks.”
“[Economists said the data suggested a long-awaited change in the outlook of employers, a movement away from years of reluctance to add new workers.] The rate of job creation from 2000 through mid-'04 was just stuck in the cellar, ... and this was an underappreciated, ongoing cause of the jobless recovery.”
“We did not see the tremendous upsurge in injuries we thought we might get. It gets really difficult when it is tremendously hot during the night - not just when it is really hot days, but when it is really hot weeks.”
“The economy's doing fine, except if you figure in working families. We're posting great numbers in aggregate demand, yet the lousiest on record for wage growth.”
“Many of our overall indicators are percolating along just fine, but the growth continues to elude many working families, especially those in the middle and low end.”
“It's one thing to run faster in place when the rest of the economy is stagnating as well. But it cuts a little deeper when policymakers are telling you the economy is fine, and you are falling behind.”
