Stagnating wages explain why Americans do not believe the falling unemployment rate is helping them very much. A new paper entitled Wages and Labor Market Slack, Making the Dual Mandate Operational . The Paper suggests that until wages increase, the economic recovery cannot be considered a success.
That theory may explain the recent push to raise the minimum raise. Raising the minimum wage is broadly popular: a Pew poll conducted last month found over 70% in favour of a rise to $10.10, as Democrats propose; a more recent Washington Post/ABC poll found that half of American adults support the idea, 30% are indifferent and the remaining 20% are hostile.
