Wages stagnate; Unemployment Rate below 6%

From the Wall Street Journal online:

The nation’s unemployment rate slipped below 6% for the first time since the recession...

The upbeat report was tempered by weak earnings growth and continued high underemployment, reflecting workers stuck in part-time jobs...

Indeed, Friday’s report highlighted underlying ills that threaten the economy’s long-term potential to grow and lift Americans’ living standards.

The labor-force participation rate—reflecting the share of working-age Americans who have a job or are looking for one—fell last month to a three-decade low of 62.7%. Before the recession it stood at 66%.

Only part of the decline is due to aging baby boomers; even among Americans in the prime working ages of 25 to 54, participation is historically low...

And workers’ wages still have yet to climb significantly.

Among private-sector workers, average hourly earnings actually fell a penny last month, to $24.53. They have risen 2% over the past year.

This is the second expansion in a row including the recovery after the 2001 recession, where economic growth hasn’t translated into rising incomes for most Americans.

While the economy is in the middle of a pickup, weak productivity growth and the downsized labor force point to limited gains in overall growth in the long term, said Morgan Stanley economist Ted Wieseman. “It’s just a dismal picture,” he said...
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Link: http://online.wsj.com/articles/u-s-job-growth-rebounds-in-september-1412339557