US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has highlighted the wage indicators that are still showing solid growth, pointing in particular to real weekly earnings for blue-collar workers in construction and manufacturing. But the broader picture is less upbeat, with inflation still eroding household purchasing power.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, real average hourly earnings for all private-sector employees fell 0.3% from August 2025 to August 2026. For production and nonsupervisory employees, the decline was 0.1%. Over the same period, consumer prices rose 3.4%, while energy costs climbed 16.3%.
Against that backdrop, Bessent wrote on X that since January 2025, real weekly earnings for blue-collar manufacturing workers have risen 4.1%, while construction workers have seen a 5% increase. The article says those calculations are consistent with BLS payroll figures and CPI-W inflation data.
Average weekly pay for rank-and-file manufacturing workers increased from $1,161.99 in January 2025 to $1,266.43 in August 2026. During that stretch, the CPI-W, which tracks inflation for urban wage earners, rose about 4.7%. After adjusting for inflation, real weekly earnings in manufacturing were up 4.1%, while construction posted almost exactly 5% growth.
By comparison, real weekly pay for all private-sector rank-and-file workers has risen 1.5% since January 2025, while service-sector workers gained 0.9%. That means the two sectors cited by Bessent have grown at roughly three times the private-sector average.
The report also argues that much of that increase reflects longer workweeks rather than stronger hourly pay. In August 2026, construction workers averaged 40.2 hours a week, up from 39.4 in January 2025. Based on the author’s calculations, factory workers added roughly one hour a week as well.
Measured on an hourly basis, the gains are notably smaller. Since January 2025, real hourly pay has risen about 1.6% for manufacturing workers and 2.9% for construction workers. According to the analysis, that suggests more than half of manufacturing’s gain came from longer shifts rather than higher hourly wage rates.
There are also signs of weakness even within Bessent’s preferred figures. Manufacturing’s real weekly pay slipped about 0.3% from July to August, while the sector employs roughly 35,000 fewer workers than it did in January 2025, BLS data showed.
The article also translates those gains into August 2026 dollars. A typical factory worker is taking home about $50 more per week than in January 2025, or roughly $2,600 a year. A construction worker is ahead by about $75 a week, close to $3,900 annually. The typical rank-and-file worker across the private sector is ahead by about $16 a week, or around $840 a year.
The picture is weaker in services. Based on the article’s analysis, real weekly pay for rank-and-file service workers in August 2026 was about 0.2% lower than a year earlier. In other words, workers in stores, restaurants and offices have seen little to no improvement in wage purchasing power.
Another risk comes from the Federal Reserve’s latest rate move. On Sept. 16, the central bank raised its benchmark rate to a range of 3.75% to 4%. Because construction and manufacturing are among the most interest-rate-sensitive parts of the economy, higher borrowing costs could first reduce the extra hours that are currently supporting wage growth in those sectors.
The Federal Reserve said inflation remains elevated, while TD Economics director and senior economist Thomas Feltmate wrote that non-housing services inflation is still running north of 3% on a twelve-month basis. If higher rates cool homebuilding and factory orders, the current wage advantage in those sectors could weaken quickly.
The piece also notes that the August 2026 wage figures for manufacturing and construction are preliminary and may be revised in the next jobs report due in early October.
