Since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, Americans have seen no real wage growth on average, according to data released Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Between January 2025 and September 2026, both prices and average hourly pay have risen by about 5.4 percent.
Plus, average hourly earnings, in real terms, fell 0.5 percent from August to September, Wednesday’s data showed, as inflation fueled by a recent surge in energy prices wiped out yet another month of wage gains.
Americans’ shrinking purchasing power helps explain why so many people feel gloomy about the economy heading into the Nov. 3 midterms.
For about half a year, inflation has been rising at a faster rate than average hourly pay, data shows.
Trump was elected on a pledge to bring down prices, but many Americans say they have been hit hard by skyrocketing prices since the United States carried out strikes on Iran earlier this year.
“President Trump has implemented an aggressive, pro-growth economic agenda that has blunted Biden’s inflation crisis, driven economic growth, increased wages and created private-sector jobs in areas that had been hollowed out and shipped overseas,” a White House spokesperson said in response to a request for comment about inflation.
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