Did you get a raise this year? If so, and if that was enough to offset rising prices amid record inflation, polls suggest you’re in the minority.
A poll commissioned by The New York Times found that just 17% of Americans said their wages were keeping up with record inflation in early 2022. Prices for all goods and services were increasing at an annualized rate of 2% in March 2021, and increased to 8.5% in March 2022.
Earnings growth for the typical American worker has been largely stagnant over the past decade, growing at a rate of about 2% each year. That percentage began to rise as the arrival of his COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 put greater pressure on the U.S. workforce.
Women abandoned the workforce in large numbers as schools were temporarily closed for in-person learning. Many child care providers have also been forced to permanently close as families shelter at home. Many older workers nearing retirement have quit their jobs. As the economy began to pick up momentum across the country, employers struggled to find and attract workers and raise wages to attract new hires.
To identify the states in which American workers made the most profits, Stacker gathered data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to show the percent change in average weekly wages by state for the first quarter of 2022. Quarters 2021 and 2022. By examining more accurate calculations, the tie was broken.
With the job openings-to-labor force ratio of 2 to 1 for most of this year, workers have found new power to move jobs to get higher wages and benefits.
Connecticut had the largest net change in average weekly wages, increasing by $145. However, Connecticut is home to a large financial services industry, has a relatively wealthy population compared to the rest of the country, and ranks in the top 10 year-over-year. Wyoming was the state with the highest year-over-year wage growth.
New York has the highest average weekly salary of $1,972. Mississippi has the lowest at $879. However, in Mississippi, wages for a typical worker increased by $69 from 2021 to 2022, ranking the states in the top half of the southern United States for wage growth. Mississippi is one of her five states with no minimum wage law, and has failed to pass a bill to raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2025.
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