Hiring seen strengthening under Obama, but wages -- not so much

“You know what?” President Obama asked during a White House news conference this month. “What we did worked. And the economy is better.”

As usual, however, the “dismal science” of economics has spewed forth this week a slew of reports and studies that tend to contradict each other, and cast doubt on the strength of the American economy.

A report commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Mayors finds the United States has finally regained all the jobs lost during the so-called Great Recession, which commenced at the end of 2007...