The other day I wrote about a campaign by the International Trade Union Confederation t push the G20 to make hiking wages   the cornerstone of any policy to create a sustained and healthy global economy. The Economist agrees.

The magazine had a relatively long piece in its September 6th edition (subscription paywall) entitled, “The big freeze: Throughout the rich world, wages are struck”.  After looking at a variety of countries, and pronouncing the situation grim, the last paragraph really is what mattered:

Wages, of course, are not just important to central bankers. Weak pay saps revenue from income tax and social-security contributions, making it harder for governments to mend public finances. The lack of growth in real wages hurts household finances, too, keeping consumers tight-fisted. A healthy and sustained recovery in the rich world will remain elusive until the pay squeeze ends. [emphasis added]

“This blog originally appeared in Workinglife.org on September 10, 2014. Reprinted with permission. http://www.workinglife.org/2014/09/10/on-wages-the-economist-agrees/

About the Author: Jonathan Tasini has done the traditional press routine including The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Business Week, Playboy Magazine, The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times. One day, back when blogs were just starting out, he created Working Life. He has also written four books: It’s Not Raining, We’re Being Peed On: The Scam of the Deficit Crisis (2010 and, then, the updated 2nd edition in 2013); The Audacity of Greed: Free Markets, Corporate Thieves and The Looting of America (2009); They Get Cake, We Eat Crumbs: The Real Story Behind Today’s Unfair Economy, an average reader’s guide to the economy (1997); and The Edifice Complex: Rebuilding the American Labor Movement to Face the Global Economy, a critique and prescriptive analysis of the labor movement (1995).