As has been painfully obvious during the last several years, prolonged labor-market slack means falling real wages for most workers, with the negative effect intensifying as one moves down the wage distribution. By the same logic, stronger growth in 2014 and tightening labor markets should lead to healthier wage gains for the 70% of the workforce whose real wages have not yet returned to their pre-recession level.
过去几年的一个显而易见的痛苦事实是，劳动力市场的长期不振意味着大部分工人实际工资的下降，工人在工资分布中的地位下移，由此进一步加剧了消极影响。同理，2014年的增长走强和劳动力市场紧张应该带来比较有利的局面：70%的劳动力——他们的实际工资仍没有回到衰退前水平——工资将有所增加。