So a five-day weekend would represent the American wage falling to two-fifths of what it is under the current structure.

Mr. Leamer studies the impact of trade on American wages.

As job openings come back, the competition from these extra workers could dampen American wages for months or years.

But the Bureau's annual report on trends in American wages contained some troubling news as well.

Chinese wages, though, were no more than 4 percent of American and Japanese wages in 2002, the most recent year available.

By 1996, Mexican wages had fallen to 8 percent of American wages, he said.

A global world of intensifying competition will also keep constant pressure on American wages.

He is a free trader, skeptical of the argument that competition from low-wage countries pulls down American wages.

American wages and salaries rose at an annual rate of 4.1 percent over the last three months, the Government said.

The extent of outsourcing, for instance, is not yet high enough to have much effect on American wages.