Live data chart
What this chart shows
This chart compares average hourly earnings with consumer prices over time. It uses the average hourly earnings series and the Consumer Price Index series stored in a local CSV file.
To make the comparison readable, both series are converted into an index where the first shared observation equals 100. Values above 100 show growth since the starting point.
Latest summary
Initial interpretation
This chart suggests that average hourly earnings have risen faster than the broad Consumer Price Index over the shared period shown. In the chart, the wage index ends above the consumer price index, which means the wage series grew more than the general CPI series after both were set to the same starting value.
However, this does not necessarily mean households are financially secure. The chart does not measure median wages, housing affordability, debt burdens, healthcare costs, childcare costs, insurance costs, or household wealth accumulation.
This distinction matters for wealth reform. A wage measure can improve relative to broad consumer prices while households still struggle to save, buy homes, reduce debt, or build net worth.
Important limits
- Average hourly earnings are not the same as median household income. Averages can be affected by changes among higher earners or by changes in who is employed.
- Broad CPI is not the same as household pressure. Major costs such as housing, healthcare, insurance, childcare, education, and debt can rise differently from the overall CPI.
- Wage growth is not the same as wealth-building. Households need enough income left over after expenses to save, invest, reduce debt, or acquire assets.
- The 2020 period should be interpreted carefully. Labor-market disruption during COVID may affect average wage measures because lower-wage workers were more likely to experience job loss.
How this connects to the project
This result is useful because it prevents the project from relying on a single simple story. Some wage measures may improve relative to broad CPI, while other charts can still show rising housing pressure or increasing wealth concentration.
A serious wealth reform project should compare several kinds of evidence: wages, prices, housing costs, debt, ownership, and net worth. No single chart explains the whole economy.
Source and method
This page reads a local CSV file from:
data/raw/bls/bls-wages-inflation.csv
The expected columns are observation_date, CES0500000003, and CPIAUCSL. The chart finds dates where both series are available, sets both to 100 at the first shared observation, and then plots their relative growth over time.