ABSTRACT
Wages in the U.S. have been virtually stagnant since 1979, while wages in other countries have grown strongly. By some measures, other countries' wages are already considerably higher than ours. Job growth has been strong in the U.S. in the last decade, but so has population growth. Correcting for population growth, job growth in the U.S. has not been much greater than that of most other countries. Finally, U.S. public spending on job training and placement programs is among the lowest in the industrial West. Such neglect is likely to have a negative effect on future productivity, resulting in continued wage stagnation.
