Curious why March hourly wages fell [4], and why the weekly number continues to trend at a near-recession level [5], and certainly one that does not support a 2% inflation growth case? Here's why: in March the best paying industry groups - information, financial activities and manufacturing (which actually saw a drop of 1,000 jobs in the past month) - added a cumulative total of... 2,000 jobs among them. Where was the bulk of the job gains? At the worst paying sectors of course.
- Education and Health: +34K
- Leisure and Hospitality: +29K
- Temp Help: +29K
- Retail Trade: +21K
And that's why there is no inflation (at least according to whatever the Fed's preferred inflationary indicator du jour is): because the jobs that are "added" to the economy, have virtually no wage and/or purchasing power growth. But at least the "recovery" continues.
[6]
And while we have beaten this particular horse to death since December 2010 [7], here again, is America's transition to a part-time society (via WSJ [8]):
[9]
And another [10]:
[11]