Various populations of US workers have experienced wage growth in the past year after employers gave out pay raises to combat tight labor market dynamics
The Labor Department released data recently that has helped to quantify workers' gains over the past year. Due to inflationary pressures on costs of living and a tight labor market, many employers gave out raises in order to retain their workers. Based on this data, the populations that saw the largest pay increases were black workers, young workers, and those lower on the income scale. Additionally, wage growth was larger for workers with bachelor's degrees compared to workers without a high school diploma.
See "Various populations of US workers have experienced wage growth in the past year after employers gave out pay raises to combat tight labor market dynamics", Gabriel T. Rubin, Wall Street Journal, January 24, 2023