Wages Are Not Stagnating
7 November 2007
The Editor, New York Times
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036
To the Editor:
You unnecessarily weaken your case for the US-Peru free-trade agreement by conceding that Americans' wages are stagnating ("Pass the Peruvian F.T.A.," November 7). They are not.
In his recent study of data on wages and incomes, Minneapolis Fed Senior Economist Terry Fitzgerald finds "that labor income per hour for middle America has not stagnated. Rather, the economic compensation for work for middle Americans has risen significantly over the past 30 years."*
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
* Terry J. Fitzgerald, “Has Middle America Stagnated? A Closer Look at Hourly Wages,” The Region, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, September 2007.
Available on line at:
http://www.minneapolisfed.org/pubs/region/07-09/wages.cfm
The Editor, New York Times
229 West 43rd St.
New York, NY 10036
To the Editor:
You unnecessarily weaken your case for the US-Peru free-trade agreement by conceding that Americans' wages are stagnating ("Pass the Peruvian F.T.A.," November 7). They are not.
In his recent study of data on wages and incomes, Minneapolis Fed Senior Economist Terry Fitzgerald finds "that labor income per hour for middle America has not stagnated. Rather, the economic compensation for work for middle Americans has risen significantly over the past 30 years."*
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
* Terry J. Fitzgerald, “Has Middle America Stagnated? A Closer Look at Hourly Wages,” The Region, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, September 2007.
Available on line at:
http://www.minneapolisfed.org/pubs/region/07-09/wages.cfm
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Friday April 25, 2008 at 5:35pm