Tracker
Real Wage Growth (YoY)
Whether paychecks are outpacing inflation.
+0.8%
Percent change from year ago · latest, Jan 2026
Source: FRED · LES1252881600Q · series · Jan 1980 to Jan 2026
· latest-revised
Reading it. Year-over-year change of median usual weekly real earnings (FRED pc1 transform). "Real" means after inflation, so a positive value means the typical full-time paycheck is outpacing prices. Median (not average); full-time wage and salary workers only.
About the bands. Shaded spans are NBER-dated US recessions, drawn as factual overlays. They mark when the economy contracted, not why. Lining an event or policy up with a move on this chart is not evidence that it caused the move.