With inflation easing, the wages of working-class Americans are finally moving into the plus column. Average hourly pay for production and nonsupervisory workers — who make up four-fifths of employees — hit $30.27 in August, according to the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
According to my organization’s analysis, working-class Americans’ wages, adjusted for inflation, have just edged higher than they were on Election Day, 2020. The average working-class American can now answer “Yes” to the question, “Are you better off now than you were under Donald Trump?”
That’s obviously important for political symbolism. But the milestone for real wages also explains a lot about why Americans have felt so badly oppressed by inflation up to now. The price of food and housing matters, but they matter more if price increases exceed wage gains.
