Michael R. Strain, Columnist

The Economics and Emotions Behind Slow Wage Growth

Why aren’t workers getting raises? Maybe the boss knows the answer.

July 9, 2018 at 11:00 AM UTC

Michael R. Strain is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is director of economic policy studies and Arthur F. Burns Scholar in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute. He is the author of “The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It).”

It’s complicated.
Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg

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The labor market appears to be quite strong, judging by June’s unemployment figures. The rate ticked up in June to 4 percent, but that is still very low. It has been nearly two decades since the U.S. economy has had such little unemployment.

There are currently 6.7 million job openings — a record high. And the rate at which workers are quitting their jobs is higher than it was before the onset of the Great Recession. But wage growth is still noticeably slower than many economists and analysts expect (despite all the stories about employers desperate for workers).