Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday credited President Donald Trump’s policies for a nearly 2% increase in wages for hourly workers in the first five months of his second term.
“Thanks to @POTUS’s pro-growth, America First policies, real wages for hourly workers are up nearly 2% in the first five months of @realDonaldTrump’s second term — the strongest growth in 60 years,” Bessent wrote in a post on X, along with a chart comparing the real-wage hourly growth in the first five months of the nine previous presidencies to Trump’s second term.
“No president has done that before — except President Trump in his first term,” Bessent wrote. “Hardworking Americans and Main Street businesses have never had a stronger ally in the @WhiteHouse.”
Since Trump took office, average hourly earnings for blue-collar workers increased 1.7% to $31.18, from $30.67 in December, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Historically, wage growth for nonsupervisory workers rises 2% to 3% annually, so 1.7% in five months implies a potential 4.1% annualized pace, which would be considered a strong increase.
In addition, inflation has continued to cool since Trump took office, with the Consumer Price Index falling from 2.9% in December 2024 to 2.4% in May.
Since Richard Nixon in 1969, Trump has been the only president to record positive growth for blue-collar workers in their first five months, the New York Post reported Tuesday. The recovery from a 1.7% decline during Joe Biden’s first five months, as inflation outpaced earnings, suggested a shift in economic conditions for this financially stressed segment of the workforce.
Joseph LaVorgna, an economist recently named a counselor to Bessent, noted that between 2018 and 2019, the median household income jumped by $5,220 to an inflation-adjusted $78,250.
The Council of Economic Advisers estimated last month that extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts in the reconciliation budget bill before the Senate could increase annual real wages and boost real annual take-home pay for median-income households.
Newsmax Financial Editor Lee Barney contributed to this report.
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