The latter has risen significantly, even relative to the former’s 2022M02 rise.
figure 1: Real average gross hourly earnings for the private sector (blue, left log scale) and leisure and hospitality (tan, right log scale) for 1982-84, deflated for April using CPI nowcasts from the Cleveland Fed. Dates of peak-to-trough recessions as defined by NBER are shaded in gray. Sources: BLS, Cleveland Fed, NBER, and authors’ calculations.
If you use the PCE deflator, you can get Figure 2:
figure 2: Real average hourly earnings in U.S. dollars (PCE deflator) for the private sector (blue, left log scale) and leisure and hospitality (tan, right log scale) for 2012, data for April using Cleveland Fed’s PCE nowcasting is scaled down. Dates of peak-to-trough recessions as defined by NBER are shaded in gray. Sources: BLS, BEA, Cleveland Fed, NBER, and authors’ calculations.
Implicitly, I am addressing inequality, as leisure and hospitality wages are generally below average (as measured by the FRED series AHETPI, as shown by the blue line in the graph above.
