Nationally, much attention has been paid to exceptional wage growth taking place during the recovery from the pandemic. Some say it is a positive outcome of a fast and strong recovery, where labor market churn facilitated a better bargaining position for workers. Others view it as a threat to bringing inflation back down. Recently released 2022 Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides a first glimpse into this dynamic in New York City.
Comparing this wage data by industry, the Center for New York City Affairs finds that average real wage growth (adjusted for inflation) for private sector employees grew at an annualized rate of 2.2 percent from 2019 to 2022; however, this real wage growth was disproportionately experienced by workers in high-wage industries, who averaged 2.5 percent annualized real wage growth during this time period. Meanwhile, workers in New York City’s low- and middle-wage industries experienced 0.5 to 0.6 percent annualized wage growth from 2019 to 2022 when taking inflation into account.
In short, low- and middle-income industry workers were generally not able to secure substantial wage increases as a result of the pandemic and inflation in recent years. Instead, high-income workers were better able to leverage their position in the economy.
The QCEW data is collected directly from companies’ quarterly reports of unemployment insurance payroll taxes, providing one of the most reliable sources of...
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