THE AMERICAN WORKER JUST KEEPS GAINING GROUND:

Gain in wages slightly ahead of inflation (DIANE STAFFORD, 10/19/06, The Kansas City Star)

The median weekly earnings of the nation’s 108.2 million full-time wage and salary workers were $675 in the third quarter 2006, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said today.

That represented a 4 percent nominal gain over the median weekly pay reported in the third quarter 2005. But, the bureau noted, inflation advanced at a 3.3 percent rate over the same period.