Booming: U.S. Wages and Salaries Grow at Fastest Pace in Ten Years

One of the economic metrics liberals have focused on during the Trump presidency has been wages. Their argument has been that while other fundamental indicators are undeniably strong, America’s growth is failing to help workers and families improve their own take-home pay. This has been paraded as a failure of tax reform (more on that later), and an indictment of an otherwise-roaring economy. With the midterms looming, it looks like the naysayers and nitpickers are going to have to smoke out a new pessimistic talking point — via CNBC:

“Wages and salaries jump by 3.1%, highest level in a decade:” https://t.co/Pt91wgtPA0

— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) October 31, 2018

Wages and salaries rose 0.9 percent, well ahead of expectations for 0.5 percent. Benefit costs were up 0.4 percent. On a yearly basis, wages and salaries jumped 3.1 percent, the biggest increase in 10 years. Wage increases have been the missing link in the economy since the recovery began in mid-2008. Average hourly earnings have been rising steadily but have stayed below the 3 percent level as slack has remained in the labor market. However the unemployment rate is now at 3.7 percent, the lowest since 1969, and wage pressures have begun to build.

WSJ: Workers’ Pay Rises at Fastest Rate in a Decade https://t.co/ViqSIG7knW pic.twitter.com/WruyNQeEBJ

— Michael Shapiro (@mis2127) October 31, 2018

A recent Fox News survey showed that tax reform is polling eight points above water — far better than it fared when the bill was being debated and demagogued — and an NBC poll gave Republicans a 15-point lead over Democrats on handling the economy. But the opposition party has continued to blast away at the tax law, deliberately feeding widespread public perception that the new system helped very rich people and corporations, as opposed to the middle class. Politico reported this morning about the misleading or outright false tax attacks Democrats are running against the GOP this cycle: “Republicans cut taxes for the vast majority of Americans, though you wouldn’t know it by some of the campaign ads Democrats have been running,” the story explains. “Some badly misrepresent the law, portraying it as a broad tax increase on the middle class.” (Read more from “Booming: U.S. Wages and Salaries Grow at Fastest Pace in Ten Years” HERE)

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