Chart of the Month

Source: https://charleshughsmith.substack.com/p/the-bottomless-swamp-of-regulatory

Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/04/20/how-the-american-middle-class-has-changed-in-the-past-five-decades/

Source: EPI, https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/
After the longest period in history without an increase, the federal minimum wage today is worth 21% less than 12 years ago—and 34% less than in 1968.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/21/business/economy/unemployment-insurance.html

Source: :https://econofact.org/is-the-skills-gap-real-changes-in-employer-skill-requirements-during-the-great-recession

Reserve Army of the Hungry: “Is a Job at Starvation Level Wages a Job? In the industrialised countries in the post-war era, providing workers with the resources to allow for “food security” was not considered that big a deal. Hunger was an issue for the jobless. ….We now have people who are employed, yet need to lean on assistance — either from charities, or governments — to get adequate nutrition.”

Source: http://www.bondeconomics.com/2019/10/reserve-army-of-hungry.html

Source: https://safehaven.com/news/Breaking-News/Americas-Workforce-Elderly-Workforce-To-Double-By-2028.html

Real gross fixed capital formation (as a percentage of GDP) and the real interest rate: The U.S. economy (1980-2018) Source: Author’s construction based data from the AMECO database. The vertical red line gives the mean (19.5%) of the gross fixed investment to GDP ratio (1980-2018).

Source:https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/summers-and-the-road-to-damascus

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/us/politics/democrats-taxes-2020.html, based on https://itep.org/notadime/

Source: OECD, http://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/Middle-class-2019-United-States.pdf

Unemployment is Down - Why Aren't Wages Up?

Source: https://therealnews.com/stories/unemployment-is-down-why-arent-wages-up

Total credit and business credit share in advanced economies, 1973–2005. Data is averaged across 17 advanced economies. Debunking Deregulation: Bank Credit Guidance and Productive Investmment 2/19

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/05/business/bankruptcy-older-americans.html

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-07-30/republicans-are-boosting-u-s-economic-growth

Labor’s Declining Share

Workers’ paychecks account for much less of the nation’s total income since the last recession, and the profits of businesses account for more.

Source: Paychecks Lag as Profits Soar, Cohen, NY Times, 7/13/18

The Fading American Dream: Percent of Children Earning More than their Parents, by Year of Birth

Source: If the economy is so great, why are 78 million hustling for dimes? Nutting, Marketwatch, 6/18

Black Jobless Rate Drops, but It’s Still Twice That of Whites, Kitroeff & Casselman, NYT 2/18

Where Did Your Pay Raise Go? It May Have Become a Bonus “Since the late 1980s, an increasing share of companies’ payrolls has gone toward one-time bonuses and awards, while the share devoted to salary increases has fallen…”Cohen, NYT Business, 1/11/18

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-12/where-s-mine-workers-wonder-if-trump-tax-cut-will-trickle-down