American workers are seeing widespread slowing in wages, though some are suffering more than others.<\/p>\n
Wage growth for the lowest-paid quarter of workers \u2014 people who make roughly less than $806 each week \u2014 slowed to an annual rate of 3.7% in June, the Financial Times (FT) reported<\/a> Sunday (Aug. 3), citing data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta<\/a>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s down from a peak of 7.5% in late 2022, a time of steep heavy post-pandemic labor shortages in sectors like hospitality.<\/p>\n Higher-income workers have also seen their wage growth slow, though not as much, the report added. Pay for the top quarter of American workers \u2014 people making $1,887 a week \u2014 was up by 4.7% in the year to June, and for the overall workforce by 4.3 %.\u00a0<\/p>\n The FT notes that economists say wages are often more volatile for the lowest-paid employees, as they typically have less bargaining power in a weak jobs market.<\/p>\n \u201cIt takes a tighter labor market for them to have any leverage,\u201d said Elise Gould<\/a>, a labor market expert at the Economic Policy Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n The findings come as financial fragility continues to be a pervasive issue across the U.S. consumer base, according to recent PYMNTS Intelligence research.<\/p>\n The Paycheck-to-Paycheck Index <\/a>reached a new high of 68.4% in May, indicating that 684 out of every 1,000 Americans are spending their monthly income on essential payments, with 24.2% saying they struggled to stay on top of their bills \u2014 a figure that has ticked up for the third month in a row.<\/p>\n \u201cThis environment fosters discomfort, as 6 in 10 consumers feel uneasy when contemplating their finances, and 24% admit to high anxiety, alongside 36% expressing some level of concern,\u201d PYMNTS wrote last month.<\/p>\n