Business Week has an
interesting editorial on higher productivity being accomplished mostly on the efforts of the workers without being reflected in their paychecks.
"Yet very little of the efficiency gains is being directly passed on to workers. Since the end of 2003, average real wages have fallen by 3.2%, while productivity is up by 5.1%. Even managers -- supposedly the best-off sector of the workforce -- have seen a 4% decline in real wages since the end of 2003, despite the fact that the unemployment rate for managers is a meager 2.2%.
What's worse, Americans are working harder and harder, even as they're getting paid less and less. The November employment report, released Dec. 2, showed that 18.3% of the workforce puts in 49 hours or more per week. That's up from 17.8% a year ago."
Admittedly 0.5% is well within the error of the imprecise data collected by the Dept of Labor (heck, even 50% is within their error factor), but it paints a bleak picture.
It's almost enough to make the average Murrican stop spending & start saving. Not quite, but almost.