Thread by @DKThomp

I wrote about something I think would surprise and confuse a lot of casual economic news readers:

1. Wages are rising fastest at the low end.

2. Wage growth in low-pay sectors is outpacing high-pay sectors by the widest margin in at least 20 years. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

It's a politically inconvenient fact, for both parties.

D's often ignore the stat—bc it feels like giving Trump credit for a thing.

The corporatist GOP ignores the cause—bc it would mean praising minimum wage laws and demand-side benefits of targeting low unemployment.

I also think media makers can suffer from something like Narrative Loss Aversion.

The wage inequality narrative is powerful, memorable, and has historical merit.

But this makes it hard to *see* new data that suggests a new wrinkle in the story.

Wage growth now seems most stagnant for job-stayers in high-wage industries. That's ... weird! And interesting! It might tell us something important about demographics, firm pricing power, the future of the economy.

You don't ignore it bc it slightly musses up the pat narrative.

Identifying a positive datapoint for low-wage earnings growth is not a Mission Accomplishment banner.

It's more like a positive feedback mechanism: Keep up the growth! Keep down the rates! The ppl who need wage growth the most are finally getting it!

theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…