Chart o’ the Day: Recovery Wage Growth by Sector

Steven Rattner called bullshit on the whole American Industrial Renaissance over the weekend – he thinks we’re not doing even close to enough to make sure all Americans are employed and making things again. I’m not sure why he thinks this is something the government can control, outside of major public works projects that we know the legislature doesn’t have the stomach or the imagination for these days.

Anyway, one of his charts depicts the wage increases (and decreases) that Americans have enjoyed since June of 2009, the start of the recovery:

All told, wages for blue-collar automotive industry workers have dropped by 10 percent, after adjusting for inflation, since the recession ended in June 2009. By comparison, wages across manufacturing dropped by 2.4 percent during the same period, while earnings for Americans in equivalent private-sector jobs fell by “only” 0.5 percent. (To be fair, including benefits, compensation for manufacturing workers remains above that of service employees.)

Quick – can you spot which of these things is not like the others? LOL

Source:

The Myth of Industrial Rebound (New York Times)