Bernie Sanders says real wages rose 1.1%. He’s right.

2/20/20
 
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from Politifact,
12/19/19:

In the Democratic debate in Los Angeles, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders pushed back against the idea that President Donald Trump can point to a strong economy as he runs for re-election.

“Trump goes around saying the economy is doing great,” Sanders said Dec. 19. “You know what real inflation accounted-for wages went up last year? 1.1%. That ain’t great.”

The trends, however, will vary depending on the sort of workers (all workers, or just production and nonsupervisory ones) and the time period. In general, for the production and nonsupervisory group, real weekly earnings have been rising since the late 1990s, with significant dips during recessions.

There is an encouraging sign for lower wage workers. In 2018, wages rose fastest for those at the bottom end of the pay scale.

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