Customers shop at a store in New York, May 11, 2022. U.S. consumer inflation in April surged by 8.3 percent from a year ago, marking the second straight month of inflation over 8 percent. (Wang Ying/Xinhua via Getty Images) The tightest labor market in decades is fueling rapid wage growth for millions of Americans, but sky-high inflation is quickly eroding those gains.
The Labor Department reported on Wednesday that average hourly earnings for all employees actually declined 2.6% in April from the same month a year ago when factoring in the impact of rising consumer prices.
On a monthly basis, average hourly earnings dropped 0.1% in March, when accounting for the inflation spike.HIGH INFLATION COULD BE 'PAINSTAKINGLY SLOW' TO COME DOWNBy that measure, the typical U.S.
worker is actually worse off today than they were a year ago, even though nominal wages are rising at the fastest pace in years.