Low-wage workers have experienced stronger-than-usual wage growth in the pandemic business cycle: Real wage changes at the 10th percentile, three years from prior peak, in current and last four business cycles, 1979–2022

Business cycle 10th percentile
1979–1982 -11.8%
1989–1992 3.1%
2001–2004 0.8%
2007–2010 1.1%
2019–2022 9.0%

Source: EPI analysis of the Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group microdata, EPI Current Population Survey Extracts, Version 1.0.37 (2023), https://microdata.epi.org.

View the underlying data on epi.org.