Los Angeles Times

Trump trumpets revival of manufacturing, but factory wages lag behind

However much credit President Trump may deserve, there's no question that jobs in manufacturing - long the sick child of the U.S. economy - have turned up nicely since he took office.

What's not so clear is how much good that surge has done for hundreds of thousands of American factory workers.

Wages for manufacturing have not kept up with other parts of the economy, a fact Trump avoids when he boasts across the nation's heartland that he is fulfilling his promise to revitalize American industry. More recently, hiring at factories has slowed.

Manufacturing wage gains have lagged so much that, for the first time on record, the average hourly pay for all factory workers this year is less than for

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