Inflation Has Eaten Up Nearly 100 Percent of Hourly Wage Gains Since 1973 – Mish Talk

Production and Nonsupervisory Wage Details 

• Real (inflation-adjusted) wages for production and nonsupervisory workers increased from $8.04 in January of 1964 to $9.38 in February of 1973. That about a 16.7% gain but it was over 9 years.
• Nominal wages rose from $2.50 to $4.05 that’s a 62% gain over 9 years. 
• In the next 50 years real wages rose from $9.38 to $9.64, about half-a-penny per year on average.
• In nominal terms, wages rose from $4.05 in February of 1973 to $26.95 in March of 2022 but inflation ate nearly 100% of those gains.
• The series is normalized to the 1982-1984 CPI.