Again, the Fed pro-inflation stance did precious little for the purchasing power of the workers’ paychecks. The 2024 US wage cost in inflation-adjusted dollars was up by only 3.4% from 2012 levels.
And that’s not the half of it. It turns out that nearly all of the real US labor cost gain during that period was due to payroll taxes and fringe benefit cost. The base hourly wage rate in worker pay envelopes, in fact, was $24.45 per hour in 2012 (2024 $) and $24.55 per hour in 2024. So the average US manufacturing worker gained just one thin dime per hour in real purchasing power over more than a decade!
Read full text:
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2025/04/david-stockman/american-capitalisms-worst-nightmare/
