America’s lowest-paid workers are suffering a sharper slowdown in wage growth than their richer peers, adding to the pressure on Donald Trump over inequality as he threatens to undermine the reliability of US economic data. 

Data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta shows wage growth for the lowest-paid quartile of workers — people earning roughly less than $806 a week — slowed to an annual rate of 3.7 per cent in June, down from a peak of 7.5 per cent in late 2022, when post-pandemic labour shortages in industries such as hospitality were most acute. 

Wage growth has also slowed for higher earners but to a lesser extent. Pay for the top 25 per cent of workers is up by 4.7 per cent in the year to June, and for the overall workforce by 4.3 per cent. Those in the highest quartile earn more than $1,887 a week.