The mainstream left should know that rising inequality can swamp the gains that broadening opportunity is supposed to deliver.

Source: Opinion | Democrats can’t expand opportunity without reducing inequality

Three types of visualizations show the stark economic disparities in U.S. cities.

Source: How Cities Are Divided By Income, Mapped

For displaced workers in Washington state during the Great Recession, earnings dropped suddenly and had still not fully recovered five years later, according to a new article.

Source: Great Recession still plagues workers with lower lifetime wages

When labor markets tighten, wages are expected to rise. But in recent years, as unemployment has fallen below 5 percent in the United States, wages have not been increasing as fast as in the past. Economists debate the reasons; workers grapple with the consequences.

Source: Why Aren’t Wages Rising Faster Now That Unemployment Is Lower?

NPR’s Audie Cornish talks to Peter Coy, economics editor for Bloomberg, about why pay isn’t rising in the U.S., despite a falling unemployment rate.

Source: Despite Falling Unemployment, U.S. Wages Stay Stagnant

For Japan’s mission to revitalize its once roaring economy, getting wages to rise is crucial. Conditions appear ripe for fatter paychecks: the tightest labor market since the 1970s, eight straight quarters of economic growth and record profits for Japan Inc. Yet economists expect only a 1 percent pay rise this year. This would be the biggest since 1997, but hardly enough to power a consumption boost to sustain stronger economic expansion.

Source: Japan Is Growing But Wages Have Barely Budged. Why?

Remember the spike in wages in January that sparked a selloff in stock markets and sent U.S. interest rates surging? Well, “the great inflation scare of 2018” apparently didn’t happen after all.

Source: Turns out the ‘great inflation scare of 2018’ didn’t happen. Wages still not rising rapidly

Business-as-usual but “better” isn’t enough to fix what’s broken here.

Source: Opinion | It’s time to give socialism a try

The maneuver is good for companies’ stock prices, but it may not help the overall economy — undercutting a central goal of the tax cuts.

Source: Trump’s Tax Cuts in Hand, Companies Spend More on Themselves Than on Wages