While past years have seen growth in real wages at all levels, wage growth has collapsed over the past six months. Nominal hourly wages of production workers grew at only one-sixth the rate from December 2007. Also workers also face a cut in hours and nominal weekly earnings have declined. As the recent growth in wages has declined, it illustrates that the recession affects everyone including those able to keep their jobs while adding pressure to the consumption growth which experts estimate will further delay economic recovery (Economic Policy Institute, 2009).