圖表顯示金融海嘯後（2009-2015），美國地方政府公部門薪資下降對降低赤字有顯著幫助，且對於 GDP 的負面影響不大。該現象暗示公私部門的整頓措施，並非經濟大蕭條後經濟復甦遲滯的主因。此外，若公私部門勞動流動性相對較低的情況下，政府透過增加公部門薪資以帶動私部門加薪的作法，其效果極為有限。
The chart shows that after the Global Financial Crisis (2009-2015), public wage reduction by the U.S. local public sectors played an important role in reducing fiscal deficits with minimal negative effects on GDP. This suggests that consolidation measures of public and private sectors were not the major cause of the slow recovery from the Great Recession. In addition, if the mobility of labor in the public and private sectors is relatively low, it is far less effective for the government to increase the public sector payment to induce rises of the private sector payment.