Silly Liz. The ECI is a measure of annualized CHANGES in employment costs (wages, salaries & benefits). It is not and index of real wages levels.
You said, "in fact wages are starting to go below 1990 levels", not "wages aren't growing as fast as in 1990."
But let's pretend that was your original statement. So what?
Yes, compensation isn't growing as fast as in 1990, when Bush 41 was prez, but that was also the late stages of an economic expansion. In 1990 civilian compensation rose by 4.9% (Q4 '90 vs. Q4 '89) compared to 3.9% recently (Q3 2003), but both those growth rates are higher than in any year of Clinton's presidency except 2000 and even 2000 didn't match the 1990 figures.
But the other thing you missed was that the ECI measures nominal changes in compensation, not real dollar changes. Inflation (measured by the CPI) ran about 6% in 1990, so real compensation shrank that year. In 1991 and 1992, inflation dropped to 3% and the ECI showed gains of 4.3% and 3.5% respectively.
During Clinton's 8 years, inflation ran about 2.6% p.a. and the ECI gained about 3.3% on average, for a .7% real gain in civilian compensation. But since Bush took office, compensation has grown by an average of 3.8% p.a. while inflation has averaged 2.1% p.a.. That's 1.7% per annum REAL gains in civilian compensation under Bush compared to 0.7% under Clinton, again in spite of a recession.
So, it seems, after all, that you could neither back up your original claim nor the revised one. Sorry. |
