Wages still haven’t caught up with inflation, four years after the pandemic caused prices to soar and created a cost-of-living crisis for many households, a new study finds.
Americans on average are earning 1.2 percentage points below the rise in the cost of living over the past four years, which means that the typical worker’s pay increases over that time haven’t yet caught up to higher prices, according to Bankrate’s 2025 Wage to Inflation Index.
The findings come as Americans remain sour about the economy, with 55% rating it as either very or fairly bad, according to a July poll from CBS News. Three-quarters said their incomes haven’t kept up with inflation, while a majority also said they’ve seen prices creep higher in recent weeks and also expect that to continue.
Join a union, control your wages.
Seriously… I need to get in a union. I just found out this morning that the people at the local unionized ferry service make $35/hr starting pay just to stand there and help people get on the ferry let alone all the other positions that would demand a higher wage…
Meanwhile I’m a supervisor in a factory and had to fight for $30/hr (in a VHCOL area…) and was told that’s the cap, that I can’t make any more now so no raise in the last 2 years…