Pay for American workers is lagging inflation — again

MoneyWatch Pay for American workers is lagging inflation — again .chip { background-image: url('/fly/bundles/cbsnewscore/images/chip-bgd/chip-bgd-moneywatch.jpg'); } By Megan Cerullo Megan Cerullo Reporter, MoneyWatch Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News 24/7 to discuss her reporting. Read Full Bio Megan Cerullo May 18, 2026 / 5:01 PM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Roughly three-quarters of Americans say their incomes are lagging behind inflation, according to a CBS News poll.Recent economic data attests to the dip in so-called real wages. In April, U.S. inflation rose at an annual rate of 3.8% from a year ago, while workers' paychecks grew 3.6% — the first time since 2023 that consumer prices have outpaced wage growth.That sense of slipping backward, particularly driven by surging gasoline prices, is worsening the affordability challenges facing many people: 76% of survey respondents reported concern about their personal finances, CBS News found. Some 64% also described the state of the economy as "very bad" or "fairly bad," according to the survey, which was conducted from May 13-15."People are looking at higher prices across the board, and their dollar is not carrying them as far as it previously was," Angela Hanks, a former Department of Labor official and currently chief of policy programs at The Century Foundation, a progressive think tank, told CBS News.Surging energy prices accounted for 40% of the April inflation spike, labor data showed last week. On an annual basis, gasoline prices jumped more than 28% last month from a year ago. Steeper U.S. tariffs on imports are also contributing to the recent burst of inflation, according to economists. "In the near term, higher energy prices will push up overall inflation," former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on April 29 in...