Median family income dropped slightly from 2000 to 2007. This supposedly during a period of expansion and a real estate boom.
“We have had expansions before where the bottom end didn’t do well,” said Lawrence F. Katz, a Harvard economist who studies the job market. “But we’ve never had an expansion in which the middle of income distribution had no wage growth.”
My guess. The next president will institute some kind of massive government R&D and job creation initiative. Cleantech, education, and rebuilding our aging infrastructure are prime candidates.