Skip to content

Worker earnings were up modestly in June

As usual, if it's CPI day it's also earnings day. Both weekly and hourly earnings for blue-collar workers were up at an annual rate of 4.7% from June to May. With headline inflation running at 2.2%, this means that worker pay went up about 2.5% in real terms. Not too bad.

Hourly wages for all workers were up only 4.4%, or 2.2% in real terms. However, the number of hours worked ticked up a bit, so the increase in weekly wages was 8.1%, or 5.8% in real terms. That's good news for workers, who are getting a bit more work than before, and probably not a problem for the Fed since the increase is mostly due to longer hours worked, not underlying pay rises.

As usual, it's worth noting that real weekly earnings have gone up a grand total of 0.99% since the beginning of 2020. It's a mystery why the Fed is apparently so worried about spiraling pay worming its way into inflation.

3 thoughts on “Worker earnings were up modestly in June

  1. azumbrunn

    "It's a mystery why the Fed is apparently so worried about spiraling pay worming its way into inflation."
    Maybe the FED people's own pay and their friends' has done a good deal of worming.

  2. pjcamp1905

    "It's a mystery why the Fed is apparently so worried about spiraling pay worming its way into inflation."

    Nobody wants to be William Miller.

Comments are closed.