I'm an extremely honest thinker who isn't beholden to anyone and has a lot of hands-on life experience at a quirkily wide array of activities. If you don't like the package, please unfollow, but I think I'm providing a POV you won't get anywhere else.
wage increases in percentage terms is highest for those who weren't earning enough anyway. median wage earners are still rent burdened in every city in the country. Implying a reversion back to pre-pandemic levels means everyone is still upset about the economy. it was bad then!
a huge problem in econ/fin journalism, is treating it like a science, and treating percentages as absolute measures. all this "earnings catching up to inflation" implies that the cost of living was affordable before, with only an unpleasant interim. people weren't happy before!
Couple possible ways to look at this.... 1) The TikTok thesis is real, it's just not true 18-29 y.o.'s lost all this ground relative to older even with inflation. 2) The winner/loser split between older pre-pandemic homeowners sitting on a pile of gold and younger aspiring ones
For all the talk about housing prices driving negative economic sentiment, the rapid spike in rents was a one-time thing that basically ended in fall of last year. Since then, we have slid towards actual rent DEFLATION. Meanwhile, wages keep rising, catching people up to rents.