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Inflation Takes Big Toll on Americans’ Pay
Real earnings for majority of U.S. workers fell by the most since 2013 in January
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Inflation just took the biggest bite out of Americans’ paychecks in almost five years. Real average hourly earnings of production and non-supervisory workers, who make up more than 80 percent of employees at companies, fell 0.5 percent in January, according to government figures released on Wednesday. It marked the fifth decline in the last six months and could go a long way in explaining the abrupt slowdown in January retail sales, and why fourth-quarter credit-card debt registered the second-largest percentage increase since 2007.