I think the argument is that during COVID everything was unusual. I think that is a fair argument. It's impossible to do a real counter-factual comparing what

I think the argument is that during COVID everything was unusual. I think that is a fair argument. It's impossible to do a real counter-factual comparing what would have happened, but: Dec 2018: $376.20 Dec 2019: $376.87 COVID Dec 2022: $378.76 Apr 2023: $378.50 All numbers from https://ycharts.com/indicators/us_real_average_weekly_earnings https://ycharts.com/indicators/us_real_average_weekly_earnin... So real (inflation adjusted) wages have been roughly static compared to before COVID. That seems a reasonable point to make compared to the OP's negative sentiment, which seems not to be backed up by the numbers.