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Err, Michael?

Under George W Bush, middle-class workers saw their productivity rise, but not their wages. Meanwhile, healthcare costs soared.

And as middle class healthcare is paid for by employers those workers saw their compensation rise along with productivity.

The returns to labour are total compensation you know, not just wages.

1 thought on “Err, Michael?”

  1. no, that won’t quite do, since employers are actually cutting back healthcare provision in the US.
    http://www.management-issues.com/2009/3/9/research/prepare-for-a-world-without-employer-healthcare.asp

    It’s a bit like arguing that employees are doing well here because employer pension contributions are going up at many companies. By your interpretation this is somehow ‘compensation’ for employees, yet in reality companies are cutting back pension provision, and this increased costs are largely required to fund benefits already accrued. Equally this would mean that employees were worse off when employers were taking contribution holidays in the 80s and 90s, even though they were benefiting from final salary pension schemes.

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