Mitchell Epner: 1/ This screenshot seems to me to be the best representation of why many people feel we are in a bad economy despite record high employment and continued GDP growth. During 2020, wages grew far faster than inflation. From 2021 - 23, inflation was higher than wage growth. For many people, . . .

1/ This screenshot seems to me to be the best representation of why many people feel we are in a bad economy despite record high employment and continued GDP growth. During 2020, wages grew far faster than inflation. From 2021 - 23, inflation was higher than wage growth. For many people, . . .

2/2 . . . their paycheck buys less today than it did on Election Day 2020. The last year has seen wage growth much higher than inflation, so people (in aggregate) should start experiencing more prosperity. We will see.

This chart tells the same story. I’m providing the link because it is not behind a paywall. www.statista.com/statistics/1...

Wage growth vs inflation U.S. 2024 | Statistawww.statista.com The rate of inflation overtook the growth of wages in April 2021. High rates of inflation means that consumers are seeing a decrease in purchasing power

There's graphs and statistics on the click-through bsky.app/profile/quov...

the "vibecession" everyone complains about is due to inequality and uneven gains. Wage growth has been much higher for the bottom decile than the middle three, who tend to be the ones on social media.

Pay is up $32 for the very poorest - Kevin Drumjabberwocking.com You've probably heard that wages have lately been going up faster for the poor than for the affluent. It's true: Don't make too much of this, however. As you can see, nearly everyone is within about ...

Agreed on this but also imagine if we didn’t have the estimated 30-40% of inflation caused unnecessarily by corporate greed and price gouging. Not to mention an entire right wing media ecosystem lying to its audience daily and MSM almost entirely wrong on the chances of a recession for a yearp

Thanks for these, and for your interpretation 😀. Curious how & why the Statista data masks the two big swings in wages growth in 2020 & 2021. And why should the BLS data be behind a paywall?

I got the BLS chart from The NY Times (paywall).

BLS data are readily available, not behind a paywall. The analysis and specific charts derived from the raw data are not. Example: www.bls.gov/news.release...

Consumer Price Index Summary - 2024 M04 Results www.bls.gov

And so many sectors have seen zero to little wage growth since before 2020. Even if you get a 1-3% wage increase, the increase in health care premiums alone eat that up. Then add groceries and rent …

The average hourly wage spike in 2020 only happened because so many low wage workers were immediately laid off while most higher earners kept their jobs working from home.

True. The federal government also provided enormous amounts of emergency funding to individuals. The goal was to prevent a decline in aggregate demand, and that was a success. Trump went along with the largest payments to individuals in American history, in order to try to win re-election.

Yes, the $600 a week *on top of* regular unemployment was a massive increase in income for many. We were so incredibly lucky Trump still managed to lose that election!

Amen!!!!

I thought he would win if he had convinced Republicans in the Senate to either make the second stimulus check larger (say $1,500 vs $600) or send out a third one before the election.

They'll commit crimes and rip up the Constitution to win, but actually handing out money to the poor is a step too far! 😂

This is exactly what middle and lower class workers are dealing with. It barely matters if your wages went up 10% if your cost rose 15%. The economy is failing large groups of people even if GDP is rising.

I'd disagree with the use of the present tense here. The curves switched position over a year ago.

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