The U.S. economy put up another solid jobs reports on Friday, logging its ninth-straight month of adding more than 200,000 private-sector position. Wages, however, continue to lag, which means that despite things getting better, the average American is not seeing much of an improvement.  The good news is that this is the best job streak since 1995, as noted by The Financial Times, leading the U.S. unemployment rate to decline to 5.8%.  U.S. unemployment rateNov 2009 - 9.9%Nov 2010 - 9.8%Nov 2011 - 8.6%Nov 2012 - 7.8%Nov 2013 - 7.0%Nov 2014 - 5.8%  — Nu Wexler (@wexler) November 7, 2014  Now for the bad news. Despite the job additions, wages remain just about flat. Economists generally expect wages to rise as joblessness falls, but that has not happened during the recovery from the Great Recession.  We added jobs in October, but workers' wages are still flat. Wage growth is a key indicator of a healthy economy. pic.twitter.com/xeMvoVC0Rr  — Economic Policy Inst (@EconomicPolicy) November 7, 2014  One reason that economists cite to explain the current situation is the large number of unemployed people who are not looking for work; they are not counted in the traditional unemployment numbers. When the unemployed are combined with the underemployed (people working below their skill level) and those who want a job but are not looking, the rate rises to around 11.5%.  In other words, there's still plenty of labor supply that appears to be exceeding demand, putting little pressure on employers to raise wages.  Why aren't wages growing? There's still a large "reserve army of the unemployed" out there, as Karl Marx might say. pic.twitter.com/waAmh3fz9P  — Matt Phillips (@MatthewPhillips) November 7, 2014  Some help is on the way, however.  Four states passed bills raising the minimum wage, while both inflation and oil prices have remained low — factors that make stagnant wages slightly less impactful.  Despite blah nominal wages, real incomes will rise on falling oil prices. Good geopolitical luck for the American worker.  — Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias) November 7, 2014  Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
The U.S. economy posted another solid jobs report -- except for the part where people need to get paid.