The White House is countering a government agency’s findings that Americans’ wages haven’t grown as quickly as cost of living over the past year, Politico reports.
The White House’s Council of Economic Advisers published a report Wednesday that says Americans’ average, after-tax compensation has gone up 1.4 percent in the last 12 months. That’s in contrast to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which says average real wages haven’t changed between July of 2017 and July of 2018.
One major difference is that the Council of Economic Advisers includes bonuses and benefits, such as health insurance, in its measurement. Including these benefits gives a better picture of workers’ total compensation, the council argues in its report. Not everyone agrees: One economist Politico talked to argued that the value of health benefits is overinflated because costs have gone up so much recently.
