alt Hacker News> Great, have they increased by as much as inflation?
Yes, real wages have been on the rise for the past few years. With the exception of the somewhat artificial COVID peak, median real wages are the highest on record: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q
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Unfortunately this is using BLS data that captures largely urban areas and fails to account for a large and quickly growing segment of the workforce that also tend to be lower earners - self-employment (eg uber drivers, doordash, gig working, contractors). This is definitely an over-estimate of real wages, a best case scenario of sorts.
With the backdrop of it coming from the organization that is supposedly supposed to be managing inflation... :P
The "inflation basket" keeps getting rejiggled to hide things.
Rent as percentage of income is up. Groceries as percentage of income is up. Medical insurance as percentage of income is up. etc.
People aren't stupid. They can see and feel this.
Yes, it's nice that computers and phones are super cheap and powerful. That doesn't help people eat.
Wow wages barely rising after 60 years of wage suppression, the wealth is truly trickling down now! Just ignore that the top 1% stole $50 trillion from the bottom 90%:
https://time.com/5888024/50-trillion-income-inequality-ameri...
There’s also the question of, “what’s inflation?”
A lot of major necessities like healthcare and housing have outpaced CPI.