AVERAGE HOURLY EARNINGS ROSE 2.56 PERCENT IN 2015

“It is worth noting that this doesn’t necessarily mean that pay is rising by that much for the typical worker. After all, the pay for chief executives and other highly paid people counts in those compensation numbers.

“Still, paired with other evidence, it doesn’t look as if this is solely a phenomenon of the highest-paid workers making more. For example, average hourly earnings for non-managerial private sector workers rose 2.56 percent in 2015 in a year of very low inflation. That number was only 1.69 percent in 2012, when inflation was higher.”

Neil Irwin, “Workers Are Getting a Bit More of the Economic Pie,” New York Times, May 3, 2016 [in print May 6, 2016, page B1].