Real Wages 1960s vs Today
US inflation-adjusted hourly wages have grown modestly since the 1960s, roughly 10 to 20 percent by common measures, far slower than productivity.
Overview
The headline puzzle: output per hour rose roughly two and a half times since the late 1960s while typical real wages crept. Measurement choices matter, deflator choice, benefits versus wages, composition of the workforce, but the divergence is real in most honest series. Compensation including benefits tracks productivity better than cash wages, and the wage series is dragged by service-sector growth and declining unionization. Post-2020 tight labor markets produced the strongest real wage gains for lower-paid workers in decades. Figures are approximate economic research summaries.
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