>How high have these wage gains been? Do they reach the level of the
>late 70's, early 80's? I was under the impression that the wage
>gains had been modest at best, which is one of the reasons for the
>low level of inflation, in spite of low unemployment. I thought
>this was one of the reasons the Fed had delayed raising interest
>rates until yesterday.
The average real hourly wage in the U.S. is back to 1986 levels. For a long-term picture, see <http://www.panix.com/~dhenwood/Stats_earns.html>.
Doug