If you've gotten a raise in the past two years, it's now been nearly all eaten away by inflation

Getting a job is the important part, as these job seekers might attest.

But getting a raise is also a big deal: For many workers, the raises they've gotten over the past couple of years have now been wiped out by inflation.

Allison Joyce/Bloomberg via Getty Images Have you gotten a raise over the past couple of years? Inflation has likely eaten it away.

Inflation-adjusted hourly earnings, which had risen after Donald Trump first took office, are now declining.

And there are ominous signs that inflation could get worse.

If you've gotten a raise over the last two years, almost all of those gains have now been eaten by inflation.

That is, if you're the average wage-earner, considering the latest statistics released this week showing that prices were rising at a faster clip than expected.

It's more evidence that affordability challenges in the US economy aren't going away.

It also means that average hourly pay, which had risen after Donald Trump took office in January 2025, is now right back to where it started, when taking inflation into account.

The average hourly wage was $35.84 in January 2025, according to federal statistics, or $37.79 in today's dollars, adjusted for inflation.

The average hourly wage last month was $37.81 — basically unchanged over the past 20 months.

Wednesday's consumer price index inflation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics came in hotter than expected, with prices up 3.7% over the year in September.

Economists had expected a 3.6% increase, and the rate was well above August's 3.4%.

"We read the September CPI report as another piece of evidence that the US is facing a persistent inflation problem," economists at BNP Paribas said in a note to clients.