The main culprit behind the languishing fortunes of America’s middle class is slow wage growth. After peaking in the early 1970s, real (inflation-adjusted) median earnings of full-time workers aged 25-64 stagnated, partly owing to a slowdown in productivity growth and partly because of a yawning gap between productivity and wage growth.
而美国中产阶级优越生活逐渐失落的主要原因则是工资增长的放缓。在1970年代的高峰期过后。计入通胀后的25到64岁全职员工实际收入中位数陷入停滞，这一部分是由于生产率增长的放缓，另一部分则源自于生产率和工资增长之间不断扩大的鸿沟。