I suspect the federal reserve plays a part in this too. They started targeting 2% inflation about the same time wages started to stagnate. When the labor marke

I suspect the federal reserve plays a part in this too. They started targeting 2% inflation about the same time wages started to stagnate. When the labor market starts to tighten, they consider it full employment.. and if it starts to increase wages, it counts against their inflation target... and to counter both points, they start taking actions to cool the market. And the "full employment" isn't even really full employment.. since it doesn't include people who have excluded themselves from the labor market. A lot of those people have difficulty for one reason or another entering the market, but they will if employers are willing to train, pay more, etc... and employers will only do that in a tight labor market. So it seems like when the labor market enters a period where it may address some real problems (wage stagnation, structural issues in the labor market, etc)... the fed jumps in to cool the market off. To be clear, I think the inflation target is a good thing... but I think it's perhaps too broad of an indicator.. and maybe we need a more nuanced target.