Looks like a Labor Surplus!! - Reader comments at The New York Sun

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Reader comment on:
The Labor Shortage

Submitted by jhm, Aug 17, 2007 22:59

Consider the government economic statistic Average Weekly Earnings. Average Weekly Earnings are the "earnings of production or non-supervisory workers on private non-farm payrolls." It is about 80% of American workers. The Rosie Scenario applauds the fact that it is up about 1.4% from a year ago to $280 (1982 constant dollars) for May 2007. (See http://www.bls.gov/news.release/realer.t03.htm). The problem is it last hit an all time high in 1973 of $332 (1982 constant dollars). (See http://www.workinglife.org/wiki/Wages and Benefits: Real Wages (1964-2004)) From 1973 to 2007 80% of American workers have experienced a declining wage.To put that decline in prospective check out the inflation calculator at http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl 1973 wage of $332 (1982 constant dollars).... 715 (2007 dollars) 2007 wage of $280 (1982 constant dollars).... 603 (2007 dollars)

The difference is $112/week or $5824/year.

This can not happen with a labor shortage per Econ 101. In fact this says all the legal and illegal immigration adds up to a labor surplus.

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