Data Brief: Why Haven’t Philly Wages Increased with Employment Levels? (Part 1)

Posted by Economy League of Greater Philadelphia on December 17, 2019

There’s been an ongoing national discussion of the seeming paradox of concurrent wage stagnation and rising employment levels in the past decade since the Great Recession. As the Washington Post recently reported, while unemployment levels have reached a 50-year low, wage growth has been sluggish and has even backslid from estimates in February of this year. As economists, policymakers, and labor advocates continue to discuss the implications and possible solutions to this quandary, we at the Economy League want to offer some local context and data on employment and wage trends in Philadelphia.

This issue’s Leading Indicator is the first part of a story that asks, “Why haven’t wages increased with employment levels in Philadelphia?”

http://economyleague.org/providing-insight/leadingindicators/2019/12/11/employwagespart1