WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The purchasing power for American households has surpassed pre-pandemic levels, according to an analysis published by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
In 2023, the median American worker can afford the same goods and services as they did in 2019, plus an additional $1,000 to spend or save because median earnings rose faster than prices, the analysis says.
As a result of rising real wages and rising employment, the typical American can afford more goods and services than before the pandemic, says the analysis by Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy Eric Van Nostrand, Laura Feiveson, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Microeconomics, and Tara Sinclair, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Macroeconomics.
The U.S. economy now has more than 2 million more jobs than pre-pandemic forecasters expected. Therefore, more and more workers are benefiting from increased purchasing power, thanks to the strong and resilient labor market, according to the Treasury.
Real wages have risen since the pandemic across the income distribution. In particular, middle-income and lower-income households have seen their real earnings rise especially fast. And in the past 12 months, real wages overall have grown faster than they did in the pre-pandemic expansion.
This pattern of rising purchasing power among Americans comes at a time other advanced economies have generally seen lower, and in some cases negative, real wage growth.
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