Wages in the United States increased 4.46 percent in January of 2025 over the same month in the previous year. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - United States Wages and Salaries Growth - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

In 1979, the median usual weekly earnings of a full-time employee amounted to 241 current U.S. dollars. In 2023, this number had risen to 1,117 current U.S. dollars. The term current U.S. dollars describes the value of the currency in that particular year. Wages adjusted for inflation can be found here.

Graph and download economic data for Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees, Total Private (CES0500000003) from Mar 2006 to Feb 2025 about earnings, average, establishment survey, hours, wages, private, employment, and USA.

In 2023, the usual median hourly rate of a worker's wage in the United States was 19.24 U.S. dollars, a decrease from the previous year. Dollar value is based on 2023 U.S. dollars. In 1979, the median hourly earnings in the U.S. was 17.48 dollars.

When adjusted for inflation, the 2024 federal minimum wage in the United States is over 40 percent lower than the minimum wage in 1970. Although the real dollar minimum wage in 1970 was only 1.60 U.S. dollars, when expressed in nominal 2024 dollars this increases to 13.05 U.S. dollars. This is a significant difference from the federal minimum wage in 2024 of 7.25 U.S. dollars.

Wages in Belgium increased 1.08 percent in September of 2024 over the same month in the previous year. This dataset provides - Belgium Wage Growth- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Graph and download economic data for Income Before Taxes: Wages and Salaries by Quintiles of Income Before Taxes: Third 20 Percent (41st to 60th Percentile) (CXU900000LB0104M) from 1984 to 2023 about percentile, salaries, tax, wages, income, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Real Median Personal Income in the United States (MEPAINUSA672N) from 1974 to 2023 about personal income, personal, median, income, real, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Employment Cost Index: Wages and Salaries: Private Industry Workers (ECIWAG) from Q1 2001 to Q4 2024 about cost, ECI, salaries, workers, private industries, wages, private, employment, industry, inflation, indexes, and USA.

This statistic shows the median household income in the United States from 1990 to 2023 in 2023 U.S. dollars. The median household income was 80,610 U.S. dollars in 2023, an increase from the previous year. Household incomeThe median household income depicts the income of households, including the income of the householder and all other individuals aged 15 years or over living in the household. Income includes wages and salaries, unemployment insurance, disability payments, child support payments received, regular rental receipts, as well as any personal business, investment, or other kinds of income received routinely. The median household income in the United States varies from state to state. In 2020, the median household income was 86,725 U.S. dollars in Massachusetts, while the median household income in Mississippi was approximately 44,966 U.S. dollars at that time. Household income is also used to determine the poverty line in the United States. In 2021, about 11.6 percent of the U.S. population was living in poverty. The child poverty rate, which represents people under the age of 18 living in poverty, has been growing steadily over the first decade since the turn of the century, from 16.2 percent of the children living below the poverty line in year 2000 to 22 percent in 2010. In 2021, it had lowered to 15.3 percent. The state with the widest gap between the rich and the poor was New York, with a Gini coefficient score of 0.51 in 2019. The Gini coefficient is calculated by looking at average income rates. A score of zero would reflect perfect income equality and a score of one indicates a society where one person would have all the money and all other people have nothing.

The median annual earnings for full-time employees in the United Kingdom was approximately 37,430 British pounds in 2024, compared with 34,963 pounds in the previous year. At the start of the provided time period, in 1999, the average full-time salary in the UK was 17,803 pounds per year, with median earnings exceeding 20,000 pounds per year in 2002, and 30,000 by 2019. Wages continue to grow faster than inflation in 2024 Between November 2021 and July 2023 inflation was higher than wage growth in the UK, with wages still outpacing inflation as of April 2024. At the peak of the recent wave of high inflation in October 2022, the CPI inflation rate reached a 41-year-high of 11.1 percent, wages were growing much slower at 6.1 percent. Since that peak, inflation remained persistently high for several months, only dropping below double figures in April 2023, when inflation was 8.7 percent, down from 10.1 percent in the previous month. For 2023 as a whole, the average annual rate of inflation was 7.3 percent but is forecast to fall to 2.2 percent in 2024, and 1.5 percent in 2025. Highest and lowest-paid occupations As of 2023, the highest-paid occupation in the UK was that of Chief Executives and Senior Officials, who had an average weekly pay of approximately, 1,576 pounds. By contrast, the lowest-paid occupation that year was that of retail cashiers, and check-out operators, who earned approximately 383 pounds a week. For industry sectors as a whole, people who worked full-time in the electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply sector had the highest average earnings, at 955 pounds a week, compared with 505 pounds a week in the accommodation and food services sector, the lowest average earnings in 2023.

In the U.S., median household income rose from 51,570 U.S. dollars in 1967 to 80,610 dollars in 2023. In terms of broad ethnic groups, Black Americans have consistently had the lowest median income in the given years, while Asian Americans have the highest; median income in Asian American households has typically been around double that of Black Americans.

In 2024, the employment-to-population ratio worldwide was estimated to be approximately 58 percent, indicating that nearly 60 percent of the global population above 15 years was employed. Among the provided regions, Africa had the highest employment-to-population ratio, at 60 percent, with Europe and Central Asia having the lowest at 55 percent. Global income growth As greater portions of the population hold stable employment over time, income has also grown globally. From 1970 until today, North America has seen the largest increase in net national incomes per capita, but this increase has occurred in other regions as well. In terms of real wages, while they have grown over time, they have experienced a slight decrease in light of the high global inflation rates. Decrease in child labor Even though greater proportions of the population are employed, child labor has decreased over time. In 2000, there were 245 million children working, which has decreased to 160 million by 2020. The majority of working children are in the agricultural sector, especially younger children within the 5-11 and 12-14 age groups.

In 2023, Malaysian employees between the ages of 40 and 44 years old earned the highest average monthly salary, at 4,241 Malaysian ringgit. With a retirement age of just 60 years old, Malaysian workers could look forward to earning more monthly average wage starting from around 40 years old. Economic outlook Malaysia is one of the biggest and strongest economies of South-East Asia, with a relatively low unemployment rate. The average monthly salary steadily increased from 2,377 Malaysian ringgit in 2014 to 3,441 Malaysian ringgit in 2023. Employees with a university degree could expect to earn almost twice as much. Can wages keep up with the cost of living? However, when seen in the context of rising living costs, wages in Malaysia have not been able to keep up. Despite having a relatively low inflation rate, prices have still gone up. Malaysians spent more than 40 percent of their income on housing and food. In May 2022, the Malaysian government increased the minimum wage to 1,500 Malaysian ringgit monthly, or 7.21 Malaysian ringgit hourly, in the hopes of easing the financial burdens of its citizens.

About 50.4 percent of the household income of private households in the U.S. were earned by the highest quintile in 2023, which are the upper 20 percent of the workers. In contrast to that, in the same year, only 3.5 percent of the household income was earned by the lowest quintile. This relation between the quintiles is indicative of the level of income inequality in the United States. Income inequalityIncome inequality is a big topic for public discussion in the United States. About 65 percent of U.S. Americans think that the gap between the rich and the poor has gotten larger in the past ten years. This impression is backed up by U.S. census data showing that the Gini-coefficient for income distribution in the United States has been increasing constantly over the past decades for individuals and households. The Gini coefficient for individual earnings of full-time, year round workers has increased between 1990 and 2020 from 0.36 to 0.42, for example. This indicates an increase in concentration of income. In general, the Gini coefficient is calculated by looking at average income rates. A score of zero would reflect perfect income equality and a score of one indicates a society where one person would have all the money and all other people have nothing. Income distribution is also affected by region. The state of New York had the widest gap between rich and poor people in the United States, with a Gini coefficient of 0.51, as of 2019. In global comparison, South Africa led the ranking of the 20 countries with the biggest inequality in income distribution in 2018. South Africa had a score of 63 points, based on the Gini coefficient. On the other hand, the Gini coefficient stood at 16.6 in Azerbaijan, indicating that income is widely spread among the population and not concentrated on a few rich individuals or families. Slovenia led the ranking of the 20 countries with the greatest income distribution equality in 2018.

In 2023, the average annual wage in South Korea fell to 47,715 U.S. dollars after adjusting for purchasing power parity (PPP). The average salary in South Korea showed a general trend of positive growth within the given period. The monthly wage was projected to reach over 5,400 U.S. dollars in 2040, the highest value among the surveyed countries. Work-life balance South Korea has some of the longest working hours in the world. Although working hours in the country have decreased over the past decade and measures such as flexible working hours have been implemented to promote a better work-life balance, South Korea still ranks among the top five countries with the longest working hours in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as of 2022. Many South Koreans tend to prefer working for a company that offers a good work-life balance rather than a company that offers a higher salary. This preference is especially strong among parents. Women in the job market While the employment rate of South Korean women has risen steadily over the past decade, the gender pay gap still exists. On average, female workers earned about 65 percent of their male equivalents’ income in 2022. The average monthly salary in South Korea was around 4.13 million South Korean won for men and about 2.68 million won for women that year.

In 2022, it was estimated that the CEO-to-worker compensation ratio was 344.3 in the United States. This indicates that, on average, CEOs received more than 344 times the annual average salary of production and nonsupervisory workers in the key industry of their firm.