Over 60 pct American workers unsure of pay rise keeping up with inflation: survey

People have dinner at a restaurant in New York, the United States, Sept. 30, 2020. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua)

Employees in the leisure and hospitality sector were the only ones to see pay growth outpace inflation through 2021, with their real wages soaring more than 6 percent through the year, largely bolstered by the labor shortage.

NEW YORK, March 3 (Xinhua) -- Sixty-two percent of American workers "worry their paychecks won't keep pace with higher prices," Business Insider on Wednesday quoted a new survey from The Conference Board as saying.

That concern varies among generations. While nearly three-fourths of millennials are worried about inflation overtaking pay growth, 59 percent of Baby Boomers share the same concerns, according to the survey.

The Employment Cost Index, a popular measure of wage gains, rose 4 percent year-over-year in the fourth quarter, the report cited the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but noting that "few workers actually felt any benefit."

Employees in the leisure and hospitality sector were the only ones to see pay growth outpace inflation through 2021, with their real wages soaring more than 6 percent through the year, largely bolstered by the labor shortage.

Conversely, inflation-adjusted wages fell more than 4 percent in the information sector, leaving such workers with significantly diminished buying power compared to what they enjoyed at the start of last year.