Wall Street Journal (03/06/23) Lahart, Justin

U.S. Department of Labor data documents the outsized wage gains of lower-paid workers compared with those of better paid workers since the pandemic began. A paper by economists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Massachusetts Amherst explores how this came about. Even as the pandemic fades, competition for low-wage workers will be more intense than before the pandemic, according to the researchers.

That could raise labor costs at firms that employ low-wage workers, reshape the U.S. business landscape, and further reduce income inequality. However, low-wage workers are not doing uniformly better. Older, less-educated workers who stayed in the same job through the pandemic have not kept ahead of inflation like those who are younger and pursued new jobs.

This article originally appeared on wsj.com. Use this link to see the full article (subscription required): Low-Wage Workers Climb the Earnings Ladder