You could probably have stopped reading at “Vox,” to know that this article is about correcting bad “data journalism.” The Ezra Klein outlet has again used sensationalist data to construct the narrative they want.
Okay, it’s not just Vox, as they just used data from a Bloomberg article, but it’s the Vox article making the rounds this morning. The article claims that in the months immediately after President Donald Trump’s tax cuts took effect, real median wages dropped by 1.8%, and included a chart that makes the drop look even scarier.
The data used comes from PayScale’s wage index, the methodology of which was immediately called into question by several people with economic backgrounds. Scott Winship, who works for Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and the Joint Economic Committee, said the chart used by Vox and Bloomberg “is based on modeling of unknown validity,” and said government data found wages to be increasing.
This chart is based on modeling of unknown validity and is completely at odds with government data, which shows real wages rising. Bad week for scare statistics. https://t.co/uc8hPUiljR https://t.co/gsL4rDGkgs
— Scott Winship (@swinshi) July 24, 2018
Ernie Tedeschi, former Treasury Department economist, added that no other sources have shown data similar to the PayScale chart.
I'm sorry, I just don't buy this Q2 Payscale data. At all. No other source has given any indication of a collapse in the level of nominal wages or a surge in inflation in Q2. https://t.co/eSMrgZOsEn
— Ernie Tedeschi (@ernietedeschi) July 24, 2018
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