"The Economy Is Better"--Really??

What we hear from NPR and Douthat is that 'the economy is better now' than before.

Nope.  It's not.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes a handy little measuring-stick called "Average Weekly Hours Worked."  That is where the truth becomes clear.  In the linked table, you can see that--in fact--the average hours worked in December of 2014 and October of 2015 are identical.  (The later two months of '15 are estimates, and are not "better" either.)  "Identical" is not "better."

It IS true that, in constant dollars, the median weekly wage has risen by $10.00 from 4Q14 to 4Q15, or about 3%.  But the number of workers has risen only slightly compared to 4Q07--less than 1%.  Are there less working-age people in the US since 2007?   Really??

One expects NPR to puke out the ObozoPropaganda.  Douthat should know better, but ya'know:  New York Values are in the mix.