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2022Q4 real compensation revised downward to -4.7% from +0.7%
- mitthrowaway2 3y agoAccording to the BLS, the previously published data for Q4 2022 showed real nonfarm wages rising +0.7% annualized (wages growing faster than inflation), but this has now been revised to -4.7% annualized (wages shrinking vs inflation). In fact, the revised figures show that wages decreased by 0.7% even in nominal terms, whereas they previously estimated that wages had been growing 4.9%. Revised figures for 2023 Q1 show that nonfarm real hourly compensation decreased -1.7%, whereas the previously published figures showed -0.3%.
- jeffbee 3y agoI guess that poses a serious problem for those who still claim that wages are driving inflation.
- toomuchtodo 3y agoCorporate profits down ~5% last quarter. 10 million job openings at the moment. We are at full employment. Lots of pain for capital ahead, not so much for the labor market (structural demographics). Gotta squeeze enterprises more, who have been juicing profits with pricing power (“greedflation”).
- adra 3y agoI mean, it could be still true if you expect that only the economy outlier super rich driving up the costs against those that can barely scrape together enough for a meal. An interesting observation would be to know the grocery cost growth per area / supermarket chain to see if there's a wider increase in prices between affluent and poor neighbourhoods.
- berbec 3y ago"Facts" and "reality" have never been a serious, or any sort of, problem for those folks. They believe in trickle-down and the reason people are poor is because they go to StarBucks too much.
- jjtheblunt 3y agoDo you have terms mixed? Trickle-down was a Republican thing, but these stats are during a Democratic administration?
- berbec 3y agoI'm talking about those that "claim that wages are driving inflation", not the current administration. If they are also doing so, I will happily retract my statement and focus my ire more broadly.
- Aunche 3y agoThe only people who claim that wages are driving inflation are strawmen based on out-of-context Federal Reserve quotes.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- oh_sigh 3y agoWhy is farm business broken out from nonfarm business?
- berbec 3y agoBecause many of the rules (minimum wage, age restrictions etc) do not apply to farm businesses.
- londons_explore 3y agoI guess it made sense when 80% of the population were farmers, and family farms involved 6 sheep that the 8 year old children liked to help milk... But in today's world of big-business farming, separating it out, either for stats or labor laws, makes no sense IMO.
- ZephyrBlu 3y agoIs there some rationale for this? I'm surprised that farms specifically get a pass on things like that.
- smabie 3y agoIt's just tech debt
- 3y ago
- SamoyedFurFluff 3y agoSerious question: if compensation is actually decreasing where are people getting justification on rolling back child labor laws? Now adults have to compete with children?? Isn’t that just going to make it worse???
- jeremyjh 3y agoIt will make things better for the people purchasing the legislation.
- berbec 3y agoBest investment out there: buy a politician.
- bugglebeetle 3y agoCapitalism means a society ruled by Capital owners, who happen to love child labor. That’s the justification. It makes them money, so it’s good!
- colechristensen 3y agoThis kind of knee jerk snarky comment doesn’t really contribute to the conversation at all. If you want to make that point, make it better.
- raphaelj 3y agoUnless you can prove them wrong, the parent's is still right: these child labor laws have been revoked to benefit a minority's financial interests.
- karaterobot 3y agoIt's the burden of the person putting forward a proposition to prove it, or at least provide some kind of argument or evidence. It's not the burden of everyone else to disprove it. Think about what that world looks like.
- falcolas 3y agoCue economists claiming this is great, because it will lower the rate of inflation, pinky promise.
- gsibble 3y agoExcuse me but how in the hell did they get the figures so wrong? And this isn't real vs. actual, everything was heavily revised. WTF?!
- aeyes 3y agoIts been the same with the jobs numbers for the last couple of months, I don't know why they even publish the numbers with such a big margin for error.
- londons_explore 3y agoPerhaps the preliminary numbers are 'estimated' high or low for political purposes - ie. to grab the right headlines or to push markets in the right direction. Then the real figures can be quietly corrected later.
- colechristensen 3y agoProtections are difficult in this unprecedented recession buildup. Like we’ve never dumped trillions into the economy in a couple of years and then jacked up interest rates so fast.
- grt_thr 3y ago[dead]
- listenallyall 3y agoFor more confusion, take a look at this morning's BLS May employment report, which is arguably the most influential dataset for financial markets: Jobs +339,000 (way above even the highest forecast) but... Unemployment rate - major increase from 3.4 to 3.7% Household survey reported 310,000 fewer people employed
- MontyCarloHall 3y agoIs this due to the fact that the unemployment rate only considers people as “unemployed” if they are actively looking for work? If more people who were taking a long-term break from the workforce (e.g. stay-at-home parent, retired, “funemployed,” etc.) are trying to jump back into the workforce, the unemployment rate can rise even as the economy adds jobs.
- dv_dt 3y agoYou're thinking labor force particpation rate, also tracked by the BLS. It's more or less returned to within a percent of what it was pre-Covid https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/civilian-labor-force-participation-rate.htm https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/civilian-lab...
- jakear 3y ago“Within a percent” is doing some heavy lifting there. The slightest of changes is hundreds of thousands of people.
- dv_dt 3y agoMay 2019: 62.9% Jan 2020: 63.3% May 2023: 62.6% Remember the workforce also lost millions of people to death and disability. The percentage has never recovered from post 2008 range of ~66%.
- listenallyall 3y ago