While inflation has been running stubbornly high, American paychecks are growing even faster than prices are rising.
\n\nReal weekly wages rose 0.3 percent in August compared with a year earlier, the third straight month of inflation-adjusted year-over-year pay gains. Real weekly wages were higher than a year earlier in June and July after dipping in April and May.
\n\nWeekly wages are calculated by multiplying the average hourly wages by the average workweek. Even when hourly wages fall behind inflation, the buying power of paychecks can rise if business is healthy enough that workers can put in more hours.
\n\nInflation-adjusted weekly wages have risen in 16 out of the 18 months for which the government reported data since President Donald Trump was inaugurated in January 2025. There was no data for October because of the government shutdown last year.
\n\nTo put it differently, real weekly wages have been positive 89 percent of the time since Trump took office. By contrast, real weekly wages rose less than half of the time—46 percent—during Biden’s presidency. During Trump’s first term, real weekly wages were positive 94 percent of the time.
\n\nReal weekly wages are up 1.5 percent during Trump’s second term. Under Biden, real…
Original source: https://www.breitbart.com/economy/