Weekly Earnings Rise, Real Earnings Remain Flat

Takeaway: The latest data from the BLS shows that while nominal earnings rose, real earnings were flat from the same time last year.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Q2 data on weekly earnings this Tuesday, showing small gains in nominal wages. But persistent inflation is wiping out those gains.

For the nearly 121 million full-time workers in the US economy, median weekly earnings rose by $53 from the second quarter of last year to $1,251. That's a rise of about 4.6 percent. However, CPI, a measure of inflation in the economy, rose by 3.9 percent, nearly wiping out all of the gain.

Women's median earnings are still lower than men's, making only about 82% of their male counterparts. The Pew Research Center shows that this gap has been shrinking since the 1980s when women only made about 65% as much as men. Though, some studies have shown that this gap is partially due to the number of hours worked and the different career paths that men and women tend to take.

Real wages have been stagnant since the beginning of the century, growing by 13 percent since 2000. In the last decade, they have only grown by 9.6%. Meanwhile, real housing prices have increased by 64%.

Reference:

BLS Usual Weekly Earnings Summary, Tuesday July 21, 2026.