For homebuyers, the best measure of the real rate is the gap between the average mortgage rate and annual wage growth.

ECONOMIST: Buttonwood

The figure below shows the real hourly wage and hours worked by employees of the average small business as a fraction of their levels when the Great Recession began.

FORBES: Small Business Employees Working Harder for Less

Since almost all lesser-skilled workers entering the workforce in any given year are paid wages lower than the average, the measured statistic, "average hourly wage, " remained stagnant over the years even while the real wages of actual flesh-and-blood workers employed in any given year rose over time as they gained more experience and skills.

WSJ: Donald Boudreaux and Mark Perry: The Myth of a Stagnant Middle Class