Catherwood LibraryILR School

American workers have essentially not gained a wage increase in real money terms this decade, and with oil and food prices skyrocketing, it is unlikely that wages of the U.S. worker are out of control. Unions are no longer negotiating gargantuan increases and many employees' leverage is basically gone, with numbers of workers joining the ranks of the unemployed. Still, the Federal Reserve?s policy makers ? its governors and the presidents of its regional banks ? are convinced that wage pressures could emerge unexpectedly, while organized labor argues that these pressures, which would lead to inflation and higher prices, are nowhere to be found.