There Is No Wage Growth: America Will Soon Have More Waiter/Bartenders Than Manufacturing Workers

Zero Hedge ^ | 11/7/2014 | Tyler Durden

[SeekAndFind]

While the headline jobs print was a modest kneejerk disappointment at least until it is appropriately spun in some sort of "goldilocks" frame, where the October jobs report was a true disappointment, was in the report of average hourly earnings: rising at just 0.1% for the month and 2.0% Y/Y, it missed expectations across both metrics. As a reminder, even Janet Yellen has observed that with the unemployment rate ridiculously low and thus meaningless to shape policy, the key thing the Fed head is watching is any changes in wages to determine where benign wage inflation is headed. Well, as the chart below shows, it is headed exactly nowhere, because 6 years after the recovery, wages simply refuse to rise.

 

And while there are many reason to explain this phenomenon, most of which have been covered here in the past, here is the easiest explanation of why wages have, and will continue to disappoint to the downside. From the report:

• Food services and drinking places added 42,000 jobs in October, compared  with an average gain of 26,000 jobs per month over the prior 12 months.
• Employment in professional and business services continued to trend up over  the month (+37,000).  Over the prior 12 months, job gains averaged 56,000 per  month. In October, employment continued to trend up in temporary help services  (+15,000).

In brief: well-paying jobs lower, low-paying jobs much higher.

And to visualize it: in October the US economy added the most waiters and bartenders in over a year. In fact at 42K, one in every five jobs "created" in the US economy went to a bartender, or a waiter.

 

Finally, putting it all in perspective, here is the total number of waters and bartenders Vs. manufacturing workers in the US since 1990. The red (bad) line has almost caught up with the blue (good) one. So much for Obama's manufacturing renaissance promise as manufacturing workers have barely recouped any of the losses since the Great Depression started in 2008, while America has never had more waters and bartenders.

[pallis]

The plantation way is to have one person working two part time jobs, instead of two people working full time.

[dfwgator]

Bartenders are already being replaced with kiosks that can mix any drink you want.

[OneWingedShark]

>> America needs jobs.
>> Jobs.
>> The GOP needs to start to support Jobs.
>> Right here in America.
>
> How do they make jobs?

Star maths and wishy thinking.

[Organic Panic]

And they will all qualify for ‘free’ obamacare thus ensuring more government dependents.

[GeronL]

wages are nowhere, prices are up and the cost of government is far higher too

we’re going backward economically and the left celebrates

[PrairieLady2]

It’s time to pull out the long-term memory.

You’re looking at the Clinton legacy, in action; jobs shuffled off to China, low paying service industry jobs here. Remember when he bragged about the millions of jobs he created? All of them were low wage, service industry jobs.

Want more of it? Just elect “Billery”.

[Theoria]

It will happen at some point.

This has been in the works for decades.

The manufacturing jobs numbers don't tell the complete picture simply because there is the lower numbers do to efficiency.

But, the trade agreements, globalization, national debt, illegal aliens etc have come home to roost.

One of the main problems a real 'populist' will have is that most members of either party are in agreement with their world view on such beliefs.

Perot was a gun grabber but he was correcting on the .Gov spending, the national debt and global wage arbitrage.

[tuffydoodle]

“My first reaction was to look where you are located. Good wages are available to a below average student with a Chemical Engineering Degree in Houston.”

That is such a common sense statement that it’s amazing that it even needs to be said. Go to where the jobs are! Geez.

[discostu]

First time I read that I thought it was “whiskey thinking”... which is similar but tastes better.

[9YearLurker]

Really? What kind of places are using them currently?

[Democrat_media]

wage “increases” seem to be below the rate of inflation so wages are actually decreasing. have they accounted for inflation and what is the exact rate of inflation (price increases). i thought it has been around 3% annual but i have to check the latest.

[Democrat_media]

wage “increases” seem to be below the rate of inflation so wages are actually decreasing. have they accounted for inflation and what is the exact rate of inflation (price increases). i thought it has been around 3% annual but i have to check the latest.

then again the government is probably fudging the numbers to help Obama. it seems like food and energy prices are skyrocketing and those are to me the most important.