But lagging pay also reflects how the economy of 2018 is fundamentally different from earlier eras. “A 3.9 percent rate today doesn’t suggest as tight a labor market as 3.9 percent in 2000 or 3.9 percent in the late 1960s,” said Ellen Zentner, Morgan Stanley’s chief United States economist. The share of working-age women in the labor force began to fall in 2000, after increasing for decades. The share of the economic pie going to workers rose steadily for the first time since the 1970s — a feat not repeated since. In March, the latest month measured at the state level, the jobless rate in Iowa was 2.8 percent, one of the nation’s lowest.

Source: New York Times May 04, 2018 23:03 UTC