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Apr 29, 2021 - Economy & Business

Wages hit record highs — for white Americans

Felix Salmon
Data: LISEP; Chart: Sara Wise/Axios

The gap between white Americans' wages and everybody else's grew even larger in the first quarter of this year, according to new data from LISEP, the Ludwig Institute for Shared Economic Prosperity.

How it works: LISEP's calculation of true weekly wages includes not only full-time workers but everybody who is employed or seeking employment.

  • The LISEP number goes down when Americans move from full-time to part-time work, or if they become unemployed — even as official wage data would remain flat or even rise.

By the numbers: White Americans now have true median earnings, in 2021 dollars, of $914 per week — an all-time high significantly above pre-pandemic levels.

  • That amount is 42% higher than the median weekly earnings of Black Americans, and 45% higher than Hispanic Americans earn.
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