American workers shouldn’t be surprised if they feel like things are going backwards in terms of making ends meet.

With the economy still barely moving ahead since the Great Recession, wages have climbed only high enough to reach a level that preceded the downturn.

Real earnings, in fact, are now equal to what they were in December 2005.

“The recession was unprecedented, and the stagnation of wages has really been going on for some time,” Martin Kohli, chief economist of the New York office of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, told McClatchy Newspapers.

Wages have been trending downward for about four decades, according to The Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution. Researchers say the median working-age man with a job earns about 4% less than he did in 1970, after factoring for inflation.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

U.S. Workers Endure ‘Lost Decade’ of Declining Wages (by Kevin G. Hall, McClatchy Newspapers)

Hours and Earnings in Private Nonagricultural Industries, 1965–2011 (Bureau of Labor Statistics) (pdf)

Average U.S. Household Has Lost 5% in Annual Income Since Economic “Recovery” Began (by Matt Bewig, AllGov)

Recession Recovery Boosted Profits … but Not Wages (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)