Working Americans with the lowest incomes are enjoying higher wage growth than the richest workers, after accounting for the effects of the recent surge in high inflation.
Since 2020, real wages for the bottom 10% of the labor force have returned to their pre-pandemic level. Conversely, top incomes and those on middle incomes have taken a major hit when the effect of rising prices is taken into account.
According to a document of National Bureau of Economic Researchreal hourly wages for the lowest incomes increased by 6.4% between January 2020 and September 2022.
Wages for America’s lowest incomes were already growing before 2020, suggesting that this may be partially attributed to trends seen before the pandemic, such as increases in states’ minimum wage laws. However, the NBER report also found that there were wage increases for the lowest incomes in the states without minimum wage laws after 2020.
According to Federal Reserve Bank of Dallasthe growth coincided with a tightening of the labor market in the wake of the “Great Shutdowns”, when large numbers of low-paid workers left their jobs during the pandemic giving reasons such as low wages, childcare issues, and dissatisfaction with prospects.
Paul Kirkup
Our other rankings of the week . . .
2022 was the second warmest year on record in Europe, with 0.9 degrees above the recent average (1991-2020), according to a report released by Copernicus, the earth observation programme. Globally, 2022 was the fifth warmest year, between 0.25°C and 0.3°C above the recent average.
The last five years have seen European temperatures averaging 2.2°C above the pre-industrial average, already well above the 1.5°C target set by the Paris Agreement in 2015.
“The 2022 report highlights alarming changes in our climate, including Europe’s hottest summer on record,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, on the release of the organisation’s European state of the climate report.
“Local understanding of the dynamics of climate change in Europe is crucial for our adaptation efforts and for mitigating the negative impact these changes have on the continent,” he continued.
Steven Bernard
As the yearly deadline to file in the United States approaches, most Americans are annoyed by the amount of taxes they pay.
People from upper-middle-income families, Republicans, and people between the ages of 30 and 64 are especially likely to say they pay more than their fair share of taxes to the federal government according to a survey by the Pew Research Center.
Americans have become increasingly likely to complain that their taxes are too high, even though tax rates have generally come down, from 20.7 percent in 2016 TO 20.4 percent in 2022 according to a report for the US Joint Committee on Taxation. This is the highest share since at least 1997, the first year Pew collected this data.
The overall tax burden – all taxes as a percentage of gross domestic product – is low in the United States compared to other rich countriesalthough this average is affected by the country’s relatively low corporate tax and social security contributions.
Federico Coco
Despite being less fuel efficient, it wears down the roads faster and – research suggests – increasing the severity of pedestrian traffic collisionsthe world likes big cars.
Nowhere more so than in the United States and Canada, where two-thirds of new cars sold are SUVs and the average car weighs more than 1,750kg, about as much as a hippopotamus.
However, bigger and heavier vehicles aren’t the most popular choice in all high-income countries. In Japan, the average car weighs two-thirds that of the United States, and SUV sales are eclipsed by the “Kei” microcar, which accounts for one-third of new car sales.
Ella Hollywood
US President Joe Biden launched his re-election campaign on Tuesday despite low net approval ratings. Polls compiled by RealClearPolitics show the Democratic president’s job approval has steadily declined since taking office, hitting a low in August after a summer of soaring gas prices and inflation. However, he has since shown slow improvement.
His ratings mirror those of former President Donald Trump at the same point in his presidency. Both fell behind former President Barack Obama’s approval ratings during his presidency.
Biden, who will be 82 when he is sworn in if re-elected, will run alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, despite having a -16% net approval rating with more than 54% of Americans having an unfavorable opinion of her, according to Medie of RealClearPolitics polls.
Joanna S Kao
The media faces a wave of job cuts. Over the past week, job cuts have hit ABC News data-driven website FiveThirtyEight, Vice Media Group has announced layoffs across its news business, and the Vice News Tonight program has been canceled.
Earlier this month BuzzFeed decided to shut down its news division and reduce its workforce by 15%. In February, News Corp announced plans to reduce headcount by 5%, approximately 1,250 positions, by the end of the year.
North American and British printing companies announced more than 3,000 layoffs in the first quarter of 2023, according to data collected by the Gazzetta della Stampa.
News organizations began to downsize in mid-2022 in response to declining advertising revenue and high energy and some commodity prices.
Chris Campbell
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