Thursday, February 17, 2011

Real Hourly Earnings Dropped

Not so touted as the inflation number, today the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) also released its report on real earnings and wages.

The results were not definitive of anything—but they weren’t encouraging: Real wages (adjusted) dropped 0.1% in January, but for the year, real wages rose 0.2% year-to-year (January 2010 to January 2011). Which means, of course, that this past January represented a significant downturn in real wages.

Was it a blip? Or was it the start of a trend?

Forgotten among the discussions about inflation are wages and salaries: If wages and salaries are downturning, even as price levels are upturning, then inflation is taking a double-bite from the average worker.

So keep an eye on real wages in February and especially March: If this past January’s trend continues, then people are going to be hurting even more than the inflation number would lead one to believe.

14 comments:

  1. Hey man you can't give us 2/3 of a novel and two months of solid blogging and then just stop. At least finish posting the Trooper!

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  2. Seriously. With $99/bl oil and the mideast starting to boil over, how can you not have something to say GL?

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  3. I agree. You certainly picked a bad time to go silent.

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  4. Hey Gonzalo donde estas, tu blog se esta convirtiendo en the weekly G...!! come back

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  5. Here's to hoping you are cooking up something juicy and been kidnapped by Bernanke and Pals

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  6. Someone want to check up on him to see if he's OK

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  7. yeah what's up with the silence? give us a sign or shout-out let us know if u need a posse to help you out with anything ...

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  8. I hope all is well, Gonzalo. We have learned a lot from you. There is a community of people out here who can help you too you know.

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  9. I'm calling it. GL has passed away. I, for one, am very saddened by the news. Keep an eye out for the memorial site on Facebook. :(

    Very sad, especially with headlines like: Dollar slumps on oil; Swiss franc hits all-time high

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  10. We know that Stoneleigh must have been in contact with him. If someone has email contact with her, she may be able to call him and check on him.

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  11. Well, now I can understand why he wouldn't have a paid membership website. If he did, that would obligate him to write daily. That just goes to show you that having a business is a type of slavery. Right now, he might be relaxing somewhere and totally disconnecting from it all.

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  12. New lira post up on his main site.

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  13. If Gonzalo's next post is about the wonders of astrology (think LATOC) then I really will start to believe in conspiracies! ;-)

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  14. 2/17/11 rearranged (somehow) is 9/11/01. A coincidence? U decide!

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Knock yourself out!

The cult of stability is a culture of death.