Rising Tide, Floundering Boats
Worth noting: as this L.A. Times article explains, a rising economic tide in the US is still leaving college-educated workers floundering:
Earnings for workers with four-year degrees fell 5.2% from 2000 to 2004 when adjusted for inflation, according to White House economists.
It seems that, for a widening share of workers, income has become untethered from standard the yardsticks of prosperity. Sure, economic output is rising, both total and per capita. Productivity is up. Profits are up. Unemployment is relatively low. But personal income is following a different trajectory.
Of course, there could be all sorts of confounding factors in play. A hot economy brings more people into the workforce, which surpresses wages. The number of college-educated workers could be rising, diluting the value of a college diploma. And so forth. But it's still hard to call an economy "thriving" when the typical worker -- even one with a good education -- is having a harder time making ends meet. And above all, it makes me wonder if it isn't time to look for better yardsticks of prosperity.
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