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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump's economy has a 27-cent paycheck problem
Donald Trump is facing a blunt Americans pay problem: Americans wages have barely budged since Trump took office in 2025. A Washington Post analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Tuesday, July 14, 2026, found average hourly pay is up just 27 cents per hour in todays dollars.
That is the grim reality check on Trumps economic record. Wage growth has only kept pace with inflation: June pay rose 3.5 percent from a year earlier, the same as prices, leaving many paychecks no stronger than before.
The raise that vanished
The key point is not that wages stopped rising. It is that prices rose just as fast.
In normal household math, a raise only feels like progress if it buys more groceries, rent, gas, medicine or childcare than last year. When the raise matches inflation, the worker has mostly stayed in place.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/trump-s-economy-has-a-27-cent-paycheck-problem/ar-AA27YMGi
But the stock market is up to 52,000.
Bluetus
(3,456 posts)and everybody can see it.
I have some products I buy periodically on Amazon. This week, I went back to see the price history. ALL of them were up at least 20% since trump came in, and some were up over 80%. This is not the result of Amazon's clever pricing algorithms. Before I re-order I always check other options. Amazon's prices track the other options.
CPI has always been bullshit. It isn't just a Trump thing, but the rate of real inflation is definitely a Trump thing.
The CPI is a farce. It is based on a "market basket" that is largely price-controlled through things like the agricultural subsidies and strategic petroleum reserve. Most of the economy is seeing inflation more like 5-10% annually.
Permanut
(8,806 posts)Gross, that is. 8 bucks after taxes. Woo hoo we're rolling in money I tell ya.