U.S. Wage Growth Trails Inflation, Poll Finds Financial Concerns Rising

Roughly three-quarters of Americans say their incomes are lagging behind inflation, according to a CBS News poll, Megan Cerullo reported.

Americans are increasingly concerned about household finances as inflation outpaces wage growth, according to recent polling.

Recent economic data points to a decline in so-called real wages. In April, US inflation rose at an annual rate of 3.8% from a year earlier, while workers’ paychecks grew by 3.6% — the first time since 2023 that consumer prices outpaced wage growth.

That sense of falling behind, particularly driven by surging gasoline prices, is worsening affordability challenges for many households.

About 76% of respondents reported concerns about their personal finances, CBS News found.

Some 64% described the state of the economy as either “very bad” or “fairly bad,” according to the survey conducted from May 13 to 15.

“People are looking at higher prices across the board, and their dollar is not carrying them as far as it previously was,” said Angela Hanks, a former Department of Labor official and chief of policy programs at The Century Foundation.

Surging energy prices accounted for 40% of April’s inflation spike, labor data showed last week.

On an annual basis, gasoline prices jumped more than 28% last month from a year earlier. Economists also said steeper US tariffs on imports contributed to the recent burst of inflation.