After decades of losing ground, U.S. labor may now get a boost via an increase in global job demand and wages. Recent slowdowns in the labor-force growth of China, Europe, and other areas, says David Lam, means the “intense downward pressure on wages that’s come from the rest of the world is going to ease off a bit.” The contraction in the global pool of young workers has resulted from declining birth rates over the last several decades. Although this trend seems clear to many, Lam says: “People haven’t quite picked up what’s happening.”

More about Lam says tightening global labor market good for American workers >