NYT Badly Confused About Monthly Wage Data

The NYT was seriously misled by the jump in the average hourly wage reported last month, headlining an article, "Economic Recovery Spreads to the Middle Class." The basis for the headline is the 0.4 percent increase in the average hourly wage reported in November. As fans of wage data everywhere know, the monthly data are very erratic. In fact, the November increase followed two months of weak wage growth. As a result, the annual rate of increase in wages for the most recent three months (Sep...