Real Hourly Wages Drop In September, Fail To Rise In 6 Of Past 7 Months

One of the greatest misconceptions plaguing modern economics is that just because there is broad inflation (real, not hedonic, seasonally-adjusted or a burst in Saudi Arabia dumping crude to pressure a Russian default), then nominal, and real, wages also have to increase.

The problem is that without the latter, there can be no actual economic recovery, and instead one ends with stagflation, something Japan is acutely experiencing right now.

Another problem: with nearly one hundred million people out of the labor force, and epic slack within the workforce, there is virtually no amount of inflation in this environment that can force corporations to not only stop firing people (see M&A bubble) but actually hike their pay (except of course for BTFD "traders" at major hedge funds and bank prop desks).

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