Real Median Usual Weekly Earnings: When The Deflator Matters

Menzie Chinn
By Menzie Chinn of Econbrowser
Professor of Public Affairs and Economics at the University of Wisconsin •

Choosing between headline CPI and CPI-W significantly alters the trajectory of median real weekly earnings.

depositphotos_694206638-stock-photo-cpi-consumer-price-index-business.jpg
Source: DepositPhotos

CPI – headline vs. CPI for wage earners and clerical workers:

FIgure 1: Median weekly usual real earnings, deflated using CPI (blue), using CPI for wage earners and clerical workers (red), both in logs 2025Q1=0. Source: BLS and author’s calculations.

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