\\The book The Mismeasurement of America: How Outdated Government Statistics Mask the Economic Struggle of Everyday Americans, by Gene Ludwig, the former Comptroller of the Currency and the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity, is a thoughtful, concise analysis of a critical issue. Do we measure unemployment, median wages, and inflation effectively? The answer is no. Before you say this is only a policy issue, consider the current discussion of a K-shaped economy.
The simple question is: why do American workers feel so stressed when employment, wage, and inflation numbers are either positive or tame? The answer is that our statistics on these key issues are problematic.
They tell a story, but reality may be different. For example, inflation appears to be under control, although it exceeds the 2% target; however, if we focus on a basket of everyday necessities, inflation is much higher. Unemployment is low, but if you adjust for part-time and low-wage work, the functional unemployment rate is higher. If we consider an alternative wage scale based on actual time worked, we would see wage earners falling behind.
We need better, more informative data. We can address the fallout from politics, but we first need better facts.
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