Michael R. Strain, Columnist

The Story of Stagnating Wages Was Mostly Wrong

The measures can be misleading.

May 15, 2019 at 8:00 AM EDT

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).”

Yes, they are getting somewhere.
Photographer: Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images

Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal

LEARN MORE

This article is for subscribers only.

Wages have been stagnant for decades for everyone except those at the very top: How often have we heard this claim? Presidential candidates frequently assert it as fact, as do some prominent economists, commentators and other opinion leaders.

The problem is it is more wrong than right.

Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal

LEARN MORE