Trump administration reports record wage growth for hourly workers

Hourly workers are seeing the strongest wage growth in nearly 60 years under President Donald Trump, according to a new White House report touting the administration’s economic record.

In the first five months of Trump’s second term, real wages for blue-collar workers rose nearly 2% — the highest growth recorded in the opening months of any presidency since 1969. The figure sharply contrasts with the 1.7% decline seen during the same period under former President Joe Biden.

“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,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote Tuesday on X. “No president has done that before — except President Trump in his first term.”

Bessent pointed to Trump’s focus on manufacturing and crackdown on illegal immigration as major factors in a June 17 interview with the New York Post.

“Biden opened the border, and it was flooded,” he said. “And for working Americans, that’s a disaster because it’s pressure on their wages.”

As CatholicVote previously reported, “Nearly one million illegal immigrants have left the US since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, according to a June 15 New York Post report, triggering a shift in the labor market that has opened up jobs for American citizens.

According to new Department of the Treasury data, Trump is the only president since Richard Nixon in 1969 to deliver positive wage growth for blue-collar workers in his first five months. In his first term, he also achieved a 1.3% rise. 

By contrast, Obama saw a 0.3% decline in 2009, and both Clinton and George W. Bush recorded 0.6% drops. Reagan saw a 0.9% decrease in 1981, and George H.W. Bush recorded a 3.0% fall in 1989. Under Carter in 1977, blue-collar wage growth was flat.

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