The Trump White House has recently made a significant announcement on the White House website, indicating that during the initial months of the second Trump Presidency, real wages for American workers, especially those in blue-collar jobs, have increased at the fastest pace in over sixty years.
To provide some context, the second Trump Administration has aimed to concentrate not only on tax reductions that benefit all, but also on targeted policies that assist the working Americans who have been largely overlooked in recent decades. Notable examples of this renewed focus include efforts to establish a “no tax on tips” and “no tax on overtime” policy within the “Big, Beautiful Bill.”
Currently, as the administration faces challenges in pushing that bill through the Senate, which is perceived to be influenced by RINOs, Trump’s White House has successfully announced a significant wage achievement for hourly workers. The announcement began with the statement, “In President Donald J. Trump’s first five months in office, real wages for hourly workers have experienced their largest increase under any administration in nearly sixty years — and we are just beginning with pro-growth, pro-prosperity policies that truly prioritize America First.”
Furthermore, it emphasized that blue-collar workers have particularly benefited in terms of real wages, which are adjusted for inflation, highlighting that their wages have finally increased, rather than suffering a painful decline in real terms, as was the case during the high-inflation era under Biden.
Highlighting the significant impact of Trump on blue-collar workers, the statement remarked, “Blue-collar workers have experienced a nearly two percent increase in real wages during the initial five months of President Trump’s second term — a notable difference compared to the negative wage growth observed in the first five months of the Biden Administration.”
During a discussion on the New York Post’s “Pod Force One” podcast, which aired on Wednesday, June 18, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pointed out that similar wage growth was noted during Trump’s first term; however, it has not reached this level in quite some time. He stated, “The only other instance of such high growth was… during President Trump’s first term.”
Indeed, Treasury data indicates that the nearly 2% increase in real blue-collar wage growth recorded thus far is, apart from the 1.3% growth achieved in his first term, the only occurrence since Richard Nixon in 1969 where real wage growth for blue-collar workers was seen in the first five months of a president’s first term, as reported by the New York Post.
Elaborating on the factors contributing to this blue-collar wage growth, Secretary Bessent mentioned on the podcast that part of the increase seems to be driven by President Trump’s “focus on manufacturing,” with tariffs and a renewed emphasis on this area leading to higher wages in the sector.
Additionally, Secretary Bessent remarked that closing the border and deporting illegal immigrants is significantly beneficial for blue-collar wages, as open borders and the labor surplus they create result in lower wages. He expressed, “Biden opened the border, and it was flooded. And for working Americans, that’s a disaster because it’s pressure on their wages.”
Watch Bessent here:
