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Economic Report of the President

Report - The American Presidency Project

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imported energy eventually will reduce real incomes in <strong>the</strong> UnitedStates. This reduction must be achieved by some combination <strong>of</strong>price inflation, wage moderation, or shrinking pr<strong>of</strong>it shares. Wagebargaining aimed at preventing this can only transform <strong>the</strong> adjustmentinto a more inflationary one.TABLE 21.—Alternative measures <strong>of</strong> changes in real earnings per hour, 1978-80[Percent change, fourth quarter to fourth quarter]Item 1978 1979 1980 lAverage hourly earnings indexDeflated by:Consumer price index (CPI)CPI with rent substituted for home-ownershipCPI with rent substitution and excluding energy...Fixed-weight price index for personal consumption expenditures (PCE)..Fixed-weight price index for PCE excluding energyCompensation per hour --4.3-2.3.1-1.9=2.6-1.1-.2-1.1-.2Deflated by:Consumer price index (CPI)CPI with rent substituted for home-ownershipCPI with rent substitution and excluding energy....Fixed-weight price index for PCEFixed-weight price index for PCE excluding energy..1 Preliminary: CPI for fourth quarter 1980 based on data through November.2 Data are for <strong>the</strong> private nonfarm business sector, all persons. Changes for 1980 are third quarter to third quarter.Note.—CPI for all urban consumers used.Fixed-weight price indexes are preliminary and subject to revision.Sources: Department <strong>of</strong> Commerce (Bureau <strong>of</strong> <strong>Economic</strong> Analysis) and Department <strong>of</strong> Labor (Bureau <strong>of</strong> Labor Statistics).Incomes policies can help to moderate <strong>the</strong> inflationary response toan oil-price increase, but only if business and labor cooperate toachieve <strong>the</strong> necessary adjustment. Such a willingness supported <strong>the</strong>Council on Wage and Price Stability (CWPS) standards programthrough its first year, 1979. In that year, as was noted in <strong>the</strong> last<strong>Report</strong>, evidence suggested that <strong>the</strong> standards had helped to restrainwage inflation by 1 to IV2 percentage points. Since <strong>the</strong>re was no evidence<strong>of</strong> widening pr<strong>of</strong>it margins, it appears that <strong>the</strong> CWPS programcontributed to smoothing <strong>the</strong> adjustment to higher oil prices. While<strong>the</strong>re is evidence that cooperation with <strong>the</strong> standards was also high inits second year, a combination <strong>of</strong> several program features seems tohave reduced but not eliminated its impact. A widening <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> allowablerange <strong>of</strong> wage increase and an undervaluation <strong>of</strong> cost-<strong>of</strong>-livingadjustments in multiyear contracts were important factors.ProductivityProductivity growth continued weak in 1980, advancing a tiny 0.1percent over <strong>the</strong> year ending with <strong>the</strong> third quarter. In 1979 privatenonfarm business productivity had declined 1.1 percent.During <strong>the</strong> course <strong>of</strong> 1980 productivity growth fluctuated sharply.In <strong>the</strong> first quarter productivity was essentially unchanged. With <strong>the</strong>-2.7— 9l!6~u-2.5-.8.9154

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