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

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Accounting for CPI inflation, wages for production and nonsupervisory workers is nearly the same today as February of 1973.

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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.

Total Private Sector Wage Details 

• The total private series only dates to March of 2006. 
• Since March of 2006, nominal wages rose from $20.04 to $31.73.
• Normalized to the CPI Index for 1982-1984, real wages rose from $10.04 in March of 2006 to $11.03 in March of 2022.

Real Hourly Wages Dive Again in March, Negative for 13 of Last 15 Months

A soaring CPI had led to negative real earnings. The drop in purchasing power was steep in March of 2022.