What’s going on:
The Economic Policy Institute’s analysis released on Thursday morning showcased that, even with inflation taken into consideration, wages for low-income workers in the United States experienced a rapid surge between 2019 and 2022.
Why it matters:
This was made possible by the tightened job market and disruption due to the pandemic, resulting in employees on the lower end of the pay scale having greater power in negotiations with their employers.
As the labor market recovered, those affected by job losses were able to use the government-provided financial aid as a crutch, which put them in a stronger position to find new job opportunities, according to Axios.
How it’ll impact the future:
Still, these workers are not making much money.
By 2022, the bottom 10% of workers were paid an hourly wage of only $12.57 — not enough to maintain an adequate standard of living anywhere in America.
