In recent months, various independent business and research sources have been raising questions about the accuracy of US official job and wage statistics. Several more sources have joined the discussion, questioning the oft-cited official—and widespread mainstream press reported–3.1% annual rise in US wages the past year. As many have indicated, the 3.1% grossly over-estimates recent wage increases in the US for several important reasons.
To being with, the figure is not adjusted for inflation, so it doesn’t reflect real wage change. Even official inflation data (which underestimates inflation for most working class households) reduces real wages to no more than 1.5%, per the US PCE price index. And even less, if the official CPI index is used to adjust for inflation. In addition to failing to reduce for inflation, the 3.1% is also an ‘average’, with actual wage increases highly skewed to the top 10% of the work force so workers at the median or below are likely seeing no wage increases or even wage reductions and the top getting more than 1.5%. Moreover, as it has also been pointed out, the 3.1% figure is for full time employed workers only.