Decline in Amecian wages

Michael Greenstone and Adam Looney have looked at the decline in wages of many American workers in The Uncomfortable Truth About American Wages. They argue that the decline is actually worse than that reported because it is masked by changing role of women in the workforce and by the decrease in the male participation rate (the statistic only records people with jobs).

When we consider all working-age men, including those who are not working, the real earnings of the median male have actually declined by 19 percent since 1970. This means that the median man in 2010 earned as much as the median man did in 1964 — nearly a half century ago. Men with less education face an even bleaker picture; earnings for the median man with a high school diploma and no further schooling fell by 41 percent from 1970 to 2010.

They also report that women are also starting to see a decline in earnings:

Since 1970, the earnings of the median female worker have increased by 71 percent, and the share of women 25 to 64 who are employed has risen to 71 percent, from 54 percent. But after making significant wage gains over several decades, that progress has slowed and even reversed recently. Since 2000, the earnings of the median woman have fallen by 6 percent.

The authors attribute the downturn to a number of factors including "technological change, international trade and the decline of unions". However, what they are really concerned about seems to be the decline in skills and education:

Many of these forces have been around since the 19th century, but today, for what may be the first time in American history, we are failing to invest enough in our skills and productivity to stay ahead of these trends, and the impacts of this failure are reflected in the declining wages of many American workers.

Greenstone and Looney recommends improvements to the education system including college completion rates.