IT'S A WEALTH TRANSFER QUESTION, NOT A JOBS CRISIS:

The labor market may finally be hitting its stride, said Eric Morath at The Wall Street Journal. October marked the 49th straight month of U.S. job growth, the "longest stretch of job creation since at least World War II." Employers added 214,000 new jobs to their payrolls, and August and September's jobs numbers were revised up, pushing the unemployment rate down to 5.8 percent, "closer to a level many economists consider healthy." The size of the labor force grew as well, said Matt O'Brien at The Washington Post, "which means that unemployment fell for the good reason that people were finding work, and not the bad one that they were giving up." Five years on, the recovery appears to be "ever-so-slightly speeding up."

Too bad most Americans can't feel it, said The New York Times in an editorial. Since 2009, "the economy has grown by 12 percent, corporate profits by 46 percent, and the broad stock market by 92 percent." But median household income has actually contracted 3 percent. Job gains simply haven't translated into higher pay; 65 percent of the private-sector jobs created in the last five years have paid hourly wages of $20 or less. Last month was no different, with job growth concentrated in low-wage sectors like restaurants, retail, and temporary work. Americans might take home a little more dough now and then by working more hours or saving money on falling gas prices, "but they are not getting ahead in any real sense." The economy is doing better on paper, but it's still "not working for those who rely on paychecks to make a living."

Bosses don't feel the need to offer raises because they aren't struggling to find workers to fill available jobs, said Allison Schrager at Bloomberg ­Businessweek. 

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