Report finds U.S. wages peaked in 1972

A new Labor Department report has revealed that most U.S. workers would have been better off in 1972.

The report found that weekly wages in 1972 for most U.S. employees were about $811 in today's dollars. This past March, U.S. workers averaged around $703 per week.

The Labor Department's report looked at average weekly earnings for production and "non-supervisory employees," which account for the majority of the U.S. workforce, The Wall Street Journal reports. For those workers, real average weekly earnings fell 0.4 percent from February to March.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

Inflation-adjusted hourly and weekly earnings increased by 2.3 percent, compared with a year earlier, but the Journal notes that the recent spike in real average earnings is "largely due to low inflation, rather than surging paychecks."