THREAD: Wages grew in 2020 because low-wage workers were pushed out of the labor market. Nearly 7.9 million of the 9.6 million net job losses were among low-wage workers, while the highest-wage workers gained nearly a million jobs.
Read our new report: epi.org/publication/st…
Read our new report: epi.org/publication/st…
Overall, less than 75% of low-wage workers were still working in 2020 compared with over 90% of high-wage workers. Faster wage growth between 2019 and 2020 is largely a result of the changing composition of the workforce. 
Wage growth in 2020 is neither a cause for celebration nor a reason to inject fears of economic overheating into policy debates. It is not an accurate indicator of the amount of economic devastation and pain experienced by millions of workers and their families in 2020.
It is indicative, however, of increasing inequality where those at the top have largely been spared from the recession while those at the bottom have been absolutely devastated.
Most workers are still suffering from a weak bargaining position that prevents them from securing pay raises sufficient to make up for decades of slow wage growth. In only 10 of the last 40 years did most workers see any consistent positive wage growth. epi.org/publication/sw…
There are numerous ways policymakers can restore bargaining power to workers during the recovery from the pandemic, including raising the minimum wage to $15/hour and passing the Protecting the Right to Organizing Act. #RaiseTheWage #FightFor15 epi.org/blog/raising-t…
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