ABSTRACT
I n this chapter we examine how American workers and their families have fared in comparison to their foreign counterparts. While Americans still
rank highest in the world in per capita income as measured by relative purchasing power, on many indicators of economic well-being the United States is falling behind. Compared to other countries, U.S. productivity growth has been relatively stagnant. Likewise, wage growth (which is related to productivity) has been flat or negative here but strong in other countries. Though the U.S. economy seemed to have a faster rate of job growth than other countries during the 1980s, the employment growth is less impressive when population growth is taken into account. In addition, our commitment to labor-market protection measures, such as unemployment compensation and wage subsidies, is much less than that of our competitors.
