- by New Deal democrat
One of the five data series of real median wages, Usual Weekly Earnings, was updated this morning for the second quarter of 2013. On an inflation adjusted basis, they rose from $331 to $334. So here's how the last 8 quarters look:
- 3Q 2011 336
- 4Q 2011 335
- 1Q 2012 335
- 2Q 2012 337
- 3Q 2012 333
- 4Q 2012 334
- 1Q 2013 331
- 2Q 2013 334
This supports the idea that as gas prices have leveled off in the last year or so, so have real median wages, at their 2007 levels. Stagnation of course is not good, but it's not a decline.
P.S. A few readers commented about energy prices as it related to my post yesterday. The numbers in that post did include all prices including energy costs. Sorry if that wasn't clear. The reference to energy costs was as an explanation for rising median wages during a recession and then falling back after.
