Way to down vote my comment without posting that data you refer to. Nominal wages surged post-pandemic in Q2 2020, but cooled off after then. Someone already replied to my comment with a Brooking institute article which confirms the figures I had previously heard, in that real wages have only increased 2% annualized since 2019.

I didn't downvote anything, and I didn't re-post data because I assumed you already had it as a participant in this discussion.

A 2% annualized increase in real wages is excellent? Compare it to real wage increases elsewhere and you'll see that "only" is not the correct modifier to use.

What is so excellent? That is the cumulative increase.

Real median earnings since Q4 2019 are only around 3% higher:

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q

Real median household income is still lower than 2019:

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSA672N

Sorry, I assumed this statement you made was correct: "real wages have only increased 2% annualized since 2019."

A 3% increase over 5 years is not bad at all. Go look at historical data or data from other places if you would like more information.

"Real" is a misnomer. Interest expenses aren't included in the CPI adjustment for real wage growth. Decreases in used/new vehicle prices wouldn't necessarily offset increases in food prices for someone taking public transit.

For a worker with credit card debt, or one who already struggles to afford public transit, the real wage growth is illusory.