Sunday, August 2, 2015

Stagnation: Workers get only 0.2% pay increase in 1st Quarter...

Obama has increased food stamp users, free or subsidized healthcare beneficiaries and people collecting disability. The wealthy are doing very well with the gains in the stock markets and the recovery of real estate prices. The middle class is dying. They face stagnant wages, higher taxes and higher prices on food, electricity, health insurance, travel and many other common purchases. 
Signs of a nascent pickup in U.S. worker pay proved fleeting as wages and salaries climbed in the second quarter at the slowest pace on record.
The 0.2 percent advance was the smallest in data going back to 1982 and followed a 0.7 percent increase in the first quarter, the Labor Department said Friday. In the 12 months ended June, wages and salaries were up 2.1 percent compared with a 2.6 percent year-over-year gain in the first quarter.
The yield on Treasury securities sank as the figures tempered expectations a firming job market would prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates as early as September. While Chair Janet Yellen has said wages alone won’t determine policy, the unexpected slowdown means there will be even more riding on employment and growth data in coming months to bolster the case for tightening in the second half of the year.

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