American Business Suffers as Wages Continue to Skyrocket

A couple of days ago I posted a chart showing the real increase in wages for American workers over the past year. Unfortunately, I could only draw the chart through May because we didn’t yet have the CPI inflation numbers for June. But today they’re out, so here’s an updated version of the wage chart:

The American worker has really been kicking ass over the past year! It’s no wonder so many companies are having a hard time filling all their positions. They’ve obviously done everything they conceivably can to attract workers off the sidelines, but for some reason workers just aren’t responding. What more can the business community possibly do?

POSTSCRIPT: I just know that some smart-aleck is going to complain that I’m showing only wages, and we really need to look at total compensation. Fine. Here it is through the first quarter of 2018:

I guess that shows me. The ECI is up a whopping 0.5 percent over the past year. Employers are really taking it in the shorts, aren’t they?

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate