62% Americans worry their paycheck won't keep up with higher prices: Survey

A new survey has revealed that 62 per cent of American workers "worry their paychecks won't keep pace with higher prices".

According to the survey from The Conference Board, a New York-based non-profit, that concern varies among generations, reports Xinhua news agency.

While nearly three-fourths of millennials were worried about inflation overtaking pay growth, 59 per cent of Baby Boomers share the same concerns, according to the survey.

The Employment Cost Index, a popular measure of wage gains, rose 4 per cent year-over-year in the fourth quarter, a Business Insider report cited the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but noting that "few workers actually felt any benefit".

Employees in the leisure and hospitality sector were the only ones to see pay growth outpace inflation through 2021, with their real wages soaring more than 6 percent through the year, largely bolstered by the labour shortage.

Conversely, inflation-adjusted wages fell more than 4 per cent in the information sector, leaving such workers with significantly diminished buying power compared to what they enjoyed at the start of last year.

--IANS

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