The U.S. economy continues to lag. While Ben Bernanke is on the record that the Fed will keep interest rates at zero until the Unemployment figure is below 6.5 – however – this must be kept within context because the number of dropouts from participating in the labor force has been decreasing.
Despite this bad news – worse is the average hourly wages fell in July. The overall rate for the year is 1.9% – below the rate of inflation.
“Really we have become a nation of hamburger flippers, Wal-Mart sales associates, barmaids, checkout people and other people working at very low wages,” Daniel Alpert, managing partner of New York investment bank Westwood Capital, told Yahoo Finance’s Daily Ticker. That’s why job growth is “not increasing consumption or the ability to go out and buy stuff.”
What does this mean for you? Save your money, don’t use credit cards, and be careful with spending. Improve your resume so that you may reach for a higher paying job. This may mean going back to school, taking on extra work, or taking on a new assignment.