Trump administration says blue-collar wages rising fastest in more than 50 years

The Trump administration is touting gains made by blue-collar workers in the first few months since the start of President Donald Trump's term began in January.

Administration officials noted that blue-collar wages – which are defined as nonsupervisory and production workers – have risen at an annual rate of 1.7% in the past five months.

That gain represents the largest increase in pay for blue-collar workers under any administration dating back to 1968. It's also larger than the boost seen by such workers at the start of Trump's first term.

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They also noted that the year-to-date gain is more than twice as large as the previous record set during the year Richard Nixon was elected. 

Officials attributed the gain in blue-collar wages to the impact of falling inflation, which has boosted take-home pay and, in turn, their living standards.

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The administration also believes that the passage of the Republican tax cut package, referred to as the "One Big, Beautiful Bill," will help reduce inflation while speeding up wage gains like what occurred during Trump's first term.

Counselor to the Treasury Secretary Joe Lavorgna, during an appearance on Kudlow on Tuesday afternoon. Larry Kudlow made the point that wages are rising faster than prices and asked, "Why is this happening now?"

"Larry, we we saw it when I worked for a very important person that was the director of the National Economic Council. You can guess who that was, and we saw a historic boom in blue-collar wages," Lavorgna said. He was alluding to Kudlow who headed up the NEC from 2018 to 2021. 

Lavorgna added, "And we're clearly building upon that now, thanks to the president's policies and the One Big, Beautiful Bill and when that's passed will solidify the supply-side growth initiatives that the president's put forward and that the Treasury secretary is working to implement. And the blue-collar boom will broaden and get even bigger."

When asked about economic growth, pointing out the Atlanta GDP was tracking a possible GDP growth rate of 3.5% in the second quarter, Lavorgna said, "What really struck me was the import price data, which shows absolutely no tariff pass through at all. In fact, when you look at the changes in import prices from China, Canada and Mexico, what you see is actually prices declining since the president put those tariffs initially in place."