Every time the employment market shows any signs of tightening, the Fed raises interest rates to slow the economy and thereby increase unemployment, loosening the labor market.

Sometimes the Fed does this too aggressively. That's called a "recession" and is considered a natural part of the business cycle. Very rarely, the Fed fails to raise interest rates aggressively enough, and "mania" results. That's not considered a natural part of the business cycle, but is instead considered very dangerous.

The system is rigged. Workers will continue to get the shaft until we decide that the economy should primarily serve average people rather than the elites.

One thing that is not addressed in this article is corporate profits. Along with productivity corporate profits have grown to record highs, particularly in the health care and energy industries (the problem of Detroit’s Big Three automakers notwithstanding – the auto industry in general is doing well). However, when it comes to sharing those profits, the middle-income workers don’t get included. You can’t stop technology, but declining pay for workers is not an inevitable byproduct. It is a choice bigwigs make because they can. Since 1980, the amount top corporate executives get paid has skyrocketed as a factor of how much the average worker earns. I don’t have the numbers at my fingertips but top executives make more than 400 times what the average worker makes. Back in the day that number was more like 30 or 40 times the average worker.

Profits are up and the choice is being made to squeeze American workers. I guess that when Americans can no longer afford to buy much, corporations will just offshore themselves entirely.

"The stock conservative response is that rising productivity will ultimately translate into wage growth, even if it's taking a bit longer than usual. And with unemployment low sooner or later workers will have more leverage to bargain with. "

As has been stated before, the minute that wage growth outstrips recent productivity growth, this is considered a disaster. It's not a response, it's a dishonest response. Making up for past lags won't even be mentioned as an excuse, let alone accepted. In the business pages, low unemployment translates into 'tight labor market', a Bad Thing.

Greed is the problem. It's the same with guns - harmless until picked up by a psychopath or socipathic criminal. Computers are nothing more or less than tools. There is no inherently logical reason to use computer technology to off-shore jobs and force those who remain to all do the work of the four+ colleagues who are no longer around. The same technology could just as easily be used to give everyone a 30 hour work week.

But don't hold your breath.