Less Than Meets the Eye

DESPITE HISTORICALLY HIGH RAISES averaging 4.7 percent last year—a development that brought hourly wages to a record peak of $31.31—the typical American worker actually lost ground financially in 2021 due to soaring inflation. As prices for food, gas and other goods and services climbed at their fastest clip in nearly 40 years, those big pay hikes, in real terms, turned into the equivalent of a 2.4 percent pay cut for the typical private-sector employee, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Only one industry, leisure