Paychecks Rose For Third Straight Month in August—Even After Inflation

While inflation has been running stubbornly high, American paychecks are growing even faster than prices are rising. Inflation-adjusted weekly wages have risen in 16 out of the 18 months for which the government reported data since President Donald Trump was inaugurated in January 2025. There was no data for October because of the government shutdown last year. To put it differently, real weekly wages have been positive 89 percent of the time since Trump took office. By contrast, real weekly wages rose less than half of the time—46 percent—during Biden’s presidency. During Trump’s first term, real weekly wages were positive...