The real wages of American workers declined in October as a result of record high inflation, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor.
The Bureau of Labor revealed that “real average hourly earnings” have decreased 0.5% from September 2021 to October 2021 as inflation surged 0.9% in October — 50% more than the 0.6% increase economists expected, according to CNBC.
Due to the Biden economy’s unemployment problems, real average weekly earnings had nearly doubled the decrease. The Bureau of Labor explained, “Real average weekly earnings decreased 0.9 percent over the month due to the change in real average hourly earnings combined with a decrease of 0.3 percent in the average workweek.”
Over the last year, “real average hourly earnings [and] real average weekly earnings” have been damaged even worse with a decrease of 1.2% and 1.6%, respectively.
By comparison, the Trump economy was experiencing inflation-adjusted increases in wages. From pre-pandemic October 2019 to October 2020, real average hourly earnings and real average weekly earnings increased 3.2% and 5.0%, respectively.
The decrease in wages comes as inflation has hit its highest point in 30 years. According to new data from the Department of Labor, the consumer-price index – which measures the prices consumers pay for goods and services – increased 6.2% in October from a year ago.
Similarly, the producer-price index – which measures wholesale prices – increased 8.6% in October from a year ago, the highest increase on record.
According to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Biden’s inflation crisis is expected to continue through next year.
“On a twelve-month basis, the inflation rate will remain high into next year because of what’s already happened,” Yellen said. “But I expect improvement by the end of — by the middle to end of next year, second half of next year. We are going through a period of inflation that’s higher than Americans have seen in a long time.”
