An often heard complaint from workers and other commentators is that the American worker is in a "dire" situation. Wages have been "hopelessly" stuck at 2 percent year over year (Y/Y) growth since late 2009.
The debate was reignited today with the BLS' productivity and unit labor cost numbers. Overall, productivity came in at 2.5 percent and unit labor costs were 0.6 percent (Q/Q annualized).
American worker hourly earnings
The relatively weak unit labor costs and strong productivity growth had some commentators arguing that the American worker continues to be taken advantage of.
What do the numbers actually show?
The following two figures plot the productivity and unit...
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