In a healthy economy wages grow faster than inflation and everyone gets richer.
We're not living in a healthy economy.
National wages are still 1 percent below the peak reached in Q4 2008, according to the PayScale Index. Blue collar jobs, particularly construction, have fallen much further from peak.
The index follows wage changes in the United States, measuring the quarterly change in total cash compensation for full-time, private sector employees. It also measures the pay change against the United States' growth.
Construction wages were the biggest losers, crashing -6.5% from peak
Transportation wages collapsed -5.2%
Manufacturing and production wages fell -3.8%
Sales wages dropped -3%
Installation, maintenance and repair wages fell by -2.1%
Retail wages dropped -1.6%
Marketing and advertising wages dropped -1.5%
Legal industry wages fell -1.3%
Food service jobs dropped by -1.2%
Art and design wages fell -0.9%
Media and publishing wages beat the national average, declining -0.8%
Administrative and clerical wages dropped by -0.7%
Architecture and engineering wages fell by -0.7%
Accounting and finance wages fell -0.6%
Human resources wages dropped by -0.4%
Information Technology wages fell by -0.1%
Science and Biotech wages grew 0.1%
Healthcare wages increased by 0.3%
Declining wages lead to declining income
Social service wages grew 1.4%
Source: Pay Scale Index