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Even as hourly wages outpace inflation, rising prices take a bite

Mar 12, 2024
It’s been harder for lower- and middle-income households to afford higher food, rent and gas prices without getting into debt.
“We see higher wage growth since the recovery. But if people are working less, their total earnings are still less than inflation,” said ADP's Liv Wang.
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How expensive fast food can explain rising economic equality

Jan 17, 2024
Fast food workers' wages are up as much as 30% since 2020. That has had real costs for businesses, but real benefits for society.
In the fast food sector, where many workers in the bottom 10% of the income distribution are employed, wages went up by 5.7% when adjusted for inflation between 2020 and 2022, says Eric Levitz of Vox.
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Is the tide turning against noncompete agreements?

A recent economics study seeks to quantify just how much noncompete clauses restrict worker mobility and wages.
"The estimates range between 18% and 40% of the American workforce is impacted by [noncompete] agreements," said Marketplace senior economics contributor Chris Farrell.
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Inflation ticked up to 3.4% in December. How are wages doing?

Jan 11, 2024
Wage growth is slowing, and those at the top of the earnings spectrum have done better than those at the lower end.
“When wage growth was very hot, the job switchers could go get another job and get a pretty good increase," said Frank Fiorille at Paychex. "We’ve really seen that come off the boil.”
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Consumers are cranky though the economy is OK

Jan 8, 2024
Worries about inflation persist even as wages are rising but will consumer sentiment improve this year?
A portrait showing the sentiment of the modern American consumer.
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Economists expect tapering job growth for December

Jan 4, 2024
November job openings also trended down but were still above pre-pandemic levels.
Job openings continued to trend down in November, just as they’ve been doing for over a year.
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Wage hikes lighten the burden of inflation, but it still weighs on some workers

Dec 18, 2023
Average pay raises last year slightly outpaced inflation but the price rises of previous years are still hurting some.
While prices for things like food and transportation take up a larger percentage of lower-income workers' budgets, they're unlikely to come back down.
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For public good, not for profit.

What immigration actually does to jobs, wages and more

Republican lawmakers want immigration changes in exchange for Ukraine aid. What does economic research say about current policy?
The economic research tells us that immigration does not cause serious wage losses, for example.
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End to some pandemic-era child care subsidies could make hiring harder

Nov 6, 2023
Many child care providers used the funds to pay their staff. Now that the money is gone, it could affect providers’ ability to recruit and retain workers.
More than $37 billion in pandemic relief funds were awarded to hundreds of thousands of child care providers across the nation.
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Wage growth cools in October

Nov 3, 2023
Average hourly earnings rose 4.1% year-over-year in October; the rate peaked near 6% in March 2022. The slowdown in wage growth is helping the Fed wrestle inflation lower.
The rate of average hourly earnings growth slowed in October, which is exactly what the Fed hopes might further cool inflation.
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