After a month of testing, I am delighted with Pages '08 as a replacement for Microsoft Word. However, one feature that Pages lacks is the ability to show you the number of words above the cursor. The Info pane of the Document Inspector will show a live word count, and it will count the words in a selection. However, unlike Word, it does not show that you are at word X in a document whose total word count is Y.
Here's a simple workaround. Press Shift-Home. This will select all the text back to the beginning of the document. A quick glance at the inspector will show the number of words in that block of text. Then tap the right arrow key and the cursor is back where you started.
Mac OS X Hints
http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20070920193530728