American workers have faced serious difficulties in the labor market since the first oil shock in 1973. Since that time, the pace of productivity advance has slowed for reasons which are still not understood, lowering the rate at which living standards have advanced.

American workers are first rate.

Private sector labor market flows provide additional indications of the strength of the labor market. For example, the quits rate has tended to be pro-cyclical, since more workers voluntarily quit their jobs when they are more confident about their ability to find new ones and when firms are competing more actively for new hires.

Millions of American workers, in all sectors of the labor market, have seen their jobs and wages undercut by the phenomenon of mass illegal immigration.

It's time we had a president who stood up for American workers first.

The pace of increases in labor compensation provides another possible indicator, albeit an imperfect one, of the degree of labor market slack.