Parsing the political claims on wages is an exercise in fun with statistics. There are several different ways to measure what’s happened to workers’ paychecks, leading to disparate and conflicting claims, and confusing messages to voters.
In this video, we review claims made during the first Democratic debate by Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas and Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio.
Sen. Bernie Sanders claims that “the average American worker today, despite the strong economy, is not getting ahead.” Not so. Hourly wages have been rising faster than inflation for years, and that trend has continued under President Donald Trump.