Spence Purnell for the Reason Foundation: As 2017 came to a close and the stock market soared to record highs, job growth remained consistent, and unemployment dropped, many remained perplexed and frustrated by the lack of growth in real wages.

There have been various policy responses to this problem — minimum wage increases, tax credits for businesses, tax credits for workers, more investment in education, etc. But is it possible that studying average wages leads to asking the wrong questions? Perhaps one way to think about the problem is to cross-examine real-world employment skills with real wage growth.