U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow on Monday said that:
a steadily expanding U.S. economy has reached a point where it should start generating good news about jobs.
“We’re about at a tipping point here where we’re going to see much improvement in wage rates and compensation,” Snow said during an interview on CNBC television.
A tipping point. Four years after the recovery began.
Paul Krugman, Monday (sub req):
Behind the disconnect between economic growth and family incomes lies the extremely lopsided nature of the economic recovery that officially began in late 2001. The growth in corporate profits has, as I said, been spectacular. Even after adjusting for inflation, profits have risen more than 50 percent since the last quarter of 2001. But real wage and salary income is up less than 7 percent… [M]uch of the wage and salary growth that did take place happened at the high end…. Americans don’t feel good about the economy because it hasn’t been good for them. Never mind the G.D.P. numbers: most people are falling behind.
It’s much harder to explain why. The disconnect between G.D.P. growth and the economic fortunes of most American families can’t be dismissed as a normal occurrence. Wages and median family income often lag behind profits in the early stages of an economic expansion, but not this far behind, and not for so long.
More from CAP here.