It’s not a mystery, it’s a problem with averaging. The bell curve is shifting over because it is being skewed by whoever is raking it in due to artificially increased pricing. Many people keep a budget and aren’t relying on their feelings about the economy when they tell you that groceries cost them more than double their pre-covid budget thresholds for less and lower quality food, unsustainably high rents have increased from 10 to 30 percent for many (at least in cities), and electricity costs have continued to rise. If your wages didn’t increase enough to cover all those increases than you are personally worse off. Who cares how it averages out in the larger economy.
It’s not a mystery, it’s a problem with averaging. The bell curve is shifting over because it is being skewed by whoever is raking it in due to artificially increased pricing. Many people keep a budget and aren’t relying on their feelings about the economy when they tell you that groceries cost them more than double their pre-covid budget thresholds for less and lower quality food, unsustainably high rents have increased from 10 to 30 percent for many (at least in cities), and electricity costs have continued to rise. If your wages didn’t increase enough to cover all those increases than you are personally worse off. Who cares how it averages out in the larger economy.