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By Robert Donachie
Low-income Americans saw greater week-to-week pay gains in the last quarter than any other group tracked by the Department of Labor.
For the first time in roughly a decade, the weekly take for workers in the bottom 10th percentile of the wage scale grew at a quicker rate in the second quarter of 2017, from the same period in 2016, than any other class of laborers, according to the Labor Department. The last time the lowest end of the pay scale outpaced other groups was in 2010.
The trend is important for a number of reasons. The bottom 10th percentile of earners have largely been left out of the recovery from the Great Recession. As other groups experienced some growth, albeit at a sluggish pace, low-income workers really did not share in those gains. It also shows a tightening labor market, which could be some evidence that the Federal Reserve’s recent monetary policy decisions are working.
The median weekly take for the 113.4 million full-time workers in the U.S. was $859 in the second quarter of 2017. That number is up 4.2 percent from the same quarter of 2016, the Labor Department reports. Those with management, professional, and related job titles had the highest average weekly earnings–$1,442 for men and $1,055 for women. Service industry workers had the lowest average weekly earnings–$598 for men $508 for women.
