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September's jobs report extended a trend that illustrates consumers' widespread pain: Their pay is not keeping pace with inflation.
Average hourly earnings rose an anemic 0.1% month over month and are up 3% year over year, new Labor Department data showed. That's against a backdrop of inflation data, which showed, most recently, prices growing at a 3.4% rate as of August.
The inversion, when inflation overtook pay growth, happened this spring. READ MORE
A retailer told the Institute for Supply Management that “Shipping containers from overseas doubled in cost, causing price increases”. The comment appeared in the services survey released on October 5, 2026.
The Institute for Supply Management said its services prices index rose to 74.0 from 72.6. That is the highest reading since July 2022.
A reading above 50 means more firms are paying higher prices than lower ones. That shows how widespread the increases are. READ MORE
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up a real estate management company’s appeal of a state Supreme Court decision that found state laws governing wages and work hours apply to immigrants who are in the country illegally.
The high court declined to give certiorari to Marmic LLC’s appeal of the state court’s March decision, which found that federal law that bars employing individuals without legal permission to enter or work in the United States does not conflict with New Jersey’s Wage and Hour and Wage Payment laws.
As is its practice, the U.S. Supreme Court did not provide a reason for rejecting the appeal. READ MORE
Workers across several Democratic-led states are set to ring in 2027 with another pay bump, widening an already sizable gap between state minimum wages and the federal floor of $7.25 an hour.
Washington, California and Connecticut will all raise minimum wages that already top $17 an hour beginning Jan. 1, while New Jersey and Michigan will also hike their wage floors — widening the gap with the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour. READ MORE
After trying college, Otavius Jackson followed an Instagram ad his mother spotted — and found his calling in aviation maintenance. Now at the Aviation Institute of Maintenance and nearing graduation, he says his math skills make the field a natural fit. His story reflects a broader national trend: employers across construction, electrical work and aviation are struggling to find enough trained workers as retirements accelerate and major projects expand.
A McKinsey & Company report projects a shortage of roughly 60,000 aviation technicians by 2029. The construction sector faces similar pressure, with the National Association of Home Builders estimating a need for 2.2 million new workers over the next three years. Skilled trades jobs can pay $60,000 to over $90,000 annually, according to Technicians of America. READ MORE
A higher salary can make a new job attractive, but compensation alone does not always tell candidates whether an offer is truly better. According to a recent report from NPAworldwide, recruiters can play an important role in helping candidates evaluate the complete package while also helping employers understand why a competitive base salary may not be enough to secure the person they want to hire. READ MORE
General Motors CEO Mary Barra's $48.2 million 2025 compensation package is drawing scrutiny when placed beside two other numbers.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says the average autoworker makes $28 an hour, and GM's net income fell 55%. READ MORE
Silicon Valley may be in the middle of an Artificial Intelligence gold rush but thousands of former senior programmers and tech workers aren’t feeling it.
Those workers — until recently, used to paychecks between $310-340,000 — say the rapid advances in AI have left living on savings and their spouses’ paychecks, despite having top companies on their résumés and PhDs.
“You find a lot of people who lack empathy for the tech worker, because they’re like, oh well, they got laid off but they got these huge severance packages,” ex-Google employee Basem Istanbouli told The Post. READ MORE
Demi Moore recently reflected on her history with Hollywood’s gender pay gap nearly three decades after being named the highest-paid actress.
During Step Up’s 2026 Inspiration Awards in Los Angeles, Moore looked back on her decision to demand compensation she believed matched her work. Speaking with moderator Danielle Robay, the 63-year-old pushed back on the idea that she was waging a battle, instead framing the moment as a question of fairness. READ MORE
CEO pay at America’s largest public companies rose 16%, reaching a median of more than $18 million, a Diligent report found, with competition for talent and strong performance driving increases. CCI’s Travis Bland explores how investors are scrutinizing board compensation committees and the mounting governance challenges in cutting the top dog a check. READ MORE
The median American full-time worker earned $1,235 a week in the first quarter of 2026, which works out to about $64,220 over a full year. That single figure hides a wide spread once you separate the four different ways the federal government measures pay, and it sits well above the wage a worker in the exact middle of the distribution actually takes home. READ MORE
Median CEO compensation among S&P 500 companies reached a record $17.5 mn in fiscal 2025, up from previous years, new research shows.
Meanwhile, median pay across the Russell 3000 excluding the S&P 500 remained broadly stable at approximately $5.5 mn, according to ISS-Corporate’s 2026 US Compensation Post-Season Review report. Since 2021, median CEO pay has increased 20 percent in the S&P 500 compared with 5 percent among the rest of the Russell 3000. READ MORE
Seattle is slated to increase its minimum wage to $22.14 an hour in 2027 as the broader metro area contends with a sharp drop in job openings and Seattle businesses face mounting cost pressures.
Beginning in 2025, all Seattle employers, including small businesses, were required to pay the same minimum wage, which is adjusted annually for inflation. Several Seattle restaurant owners who have since closed their businesses have cited rising labor costs among the financial pressures that contributed to their decisions. READ MORE
The ultrawealthy aren’t just pulling away from average Americans. Buoyed by a stock-market boom that has added trillions of dollars to their net worth, the extremely rich are even pulling away from other rich Americans.
The top 0.1% wealthiest Americans have seen their total wealth more than double since the end of 2019, according to new data from the Federal Reserve. The year the pandemic started was when the ultrawealthy began to pull away from other rich groups, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Fed data. READ MORE
In a 77-22 vote, the U.S. Senate passed the Save College Sports Act, which is intended to limit collegiate spending on athletics. At its core, the bill sets a hard cap on what schools can spend on players, with the figure set at nearly $50 million per school year.
It also adds protections for non-revenue sports, such as soccer, so a school couldn't cut those programs for at least the next nine years. READ MORE
We all know this feeling: Your boss is finally moving on to another job or has received a promotion of their own. This means that the position that they were hanging onto like a bad habit is finally open. That, or some other position that is a lateral move with more growth opportunity and surprisingly better pay, has opened up on another team.
There has been no chance for growth or career advancement in your current position for years. You'd been feeling a little stressed and burned out, but this, this is enough to perk your motivation, and you can practically feel yourself sitting up straighter at your desk. READ MORE
A bill introduced in the U.S. Senate would cap the salaries of political appointees so they could not earn more than members of Congress.
But which congressional salary the cap would use remains unclear.
The bill, officially filed as Senate Bill 5503, was introduced by Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana at the end of last week, Sept. 24. The bill text had not yet been released, leaving details unclear. It already has the backing of fellow Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. READ MORE
For decades, earning a six-figure salary has been viewed as a major financial milestone — a sign that you've officially "made it." But $100,000 doesn't stretch as far as it once did.
Because inflation has driven up prices for everything from housing to groceries, a six-figure income may provide a comfortable lifestyle in some parts of the country while still feeling tight in others. READ MORE
54% of companies have reduced or will reduce employee compensation to free up capital for AI spending in 2026, according to a survey of 866 US business leaders conducted by Resume Builder. Various forms of compensation are on the cutting board – bonuses, equity, raises, benefits, even base salaries. However, 71% of survey respondents will give performance-based raises tied to individual results.
That last finding is key: if you’re looking to make more money, you still can. What companies are doing in general or on average doesn’t necessarily apply to you as an individual. READ MORE
Living alone in New York City still requires a very Carrie Bradshaw-sized fantasy budget — or, more realistically, a six-figure salary.
A solo renter in New York would need to earn $153,600 a year before taxes to comfortably afford the city’s typical studio, according to The Economist’s latest “Carrie Bradshaw Index,” named for the “Sex and the City” heroine famous for living alone in Manhattan on a columnist’s salary.
The typical studio payment in New York is $3,840 a month, according to the index, which assumes renters should spend no more than 30% of their gross income on housing. READ MORE
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