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Obama Economic Adviser: There Is 'Faster Wage Growth at the Bottom Than at the Top'

August 3, 2018

Jason Furman, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under former President Barack Obama, said on Friday that in the United States there is currently "faster wage growth at the bottom than at the top" of the income pay scale.

CNBC's Carl Quintanilla asked Furman about some of the factors that could be affecting economic growth, noting structural changes in the way that retail has changed over the last few years.

"One hypothesis is a lot of slack in the economy, I don't see that. Another hypothesis is a lot of inequality in the economy," Furman said. "You are actually seeing faster wage growth at the bottom than at the top, so I don't see that either."

He went on to say that the United States isn't innovating at the same pace it was 15-25 years earlier and that when you're "not innovating as much, you're not going to see the same wage gains."

Furman said last month that the economy is growing faster than what government figures show.  He credited the federal tax cuts, signed into law by President Donald Trump at the end of 2017, as being responsible for some economic growth.

"I don't think it's hugely surprising that you do a nearly $250 billion fiscal stimulus tax cut spending increase and you get some extra growth out of it," he said.