During the pandemic, the lowerst-earning workers received pay increases that produced significant real wage growth, but new analysis shows that these wage gains are unlikely to stick. These wage gains were precipitated by the breadth of job opportunities for low-wage workers after businesses reopened, as well as the stimulus spending policies. As a result of severed monopsony, layoffs early in the pandemic led higher wages as companies competed to attract and retain their workforces. Despite these gains though, low-wage workers in the US still lag far behind the highest income earners as these gains from the pandemic have not been sufficient to bridge the large wealth inequality gaps. It has been claimed that the continuation of social policies like strong unemployment insurance and increasing minimum wages are necessary to preserve the recent wage gains of low-income workers.
See "Wage gains made by low-wage workers during the pandemic unlikely to stick as labor market shifts and stimulus policies end", Juliana Kaplan and Madison Hoff, Business Insider, March 23, 2023