The year 1972 can be considered an economic success from a number of viewpoints: Spending on goods and services rose markedly, which encouraged production to increase at a faster pace than productive capacity and employment to rise about double the growth rate of population of working force age. Total wages and salaries, after adjustment for price increases, went up faster than in any year in the past two decades—even more than in 1965 when they were bolstered by a sharp rise in military outlays. Real corporate profits, which declined during the inflationary period of 1965-71, also increased rapidly in 1972.