, Columnist
Boosting Wages Is Really Hard to Do
Donald Trump wants to see higher pay. That means keeping many Obama administration policies.
I meant something else by "bigger."
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For most people, two things are paramount for their economic well-being -- jobs and wages. A lot of discussion goes into how to raise employment, but increasing wages turns out to be a much thornier problem. In countries such as the U.S., where unemployment is already relatively low, leaders like President-elect Donald Trump need to wrestle with this difficult challenge.
Wages haven't risen strongly in the U.S. for quite some time. One of my favorite measures is real median weekly earnings per full-time employee. This number isn’t distorted much by very high earners, inflation or changes in the number of hours worked. Here’s what that looks like for the U.S.: