The mark of a newspaper approved classified. Terms of use agreement Best viewed with Netscape Communicator . Workers see higher wages, productivity The Lowen Corp. is proud to say it has third-generation employees among its 300 workers. But this Labor Day, it can't find enough people to keep payrolls filled at its Kansas, South Carolina and Texas factories. Brown has lots of company.
Bosses say jobs are going begging coast to coast with no let-up in sight.
The upshot is that U.S. workers are enjoying the lowest unemployment in three decades, with real incomes rising and wealth growing. A record 50 percent of Americans have invested in the stock market and 67 percent own a house - another record. Those real wage gains are the result of an explosion in productivity the last five years that has Americans working smarter and harder. As a result, economists say, pay has risen lately without pushing up prices or rekindling inflation. Gallup found that most Americans have a dim memory of being unhappy with the economy in 1992.