David Robinson

Our paychecks aren’t growing as fast as they used to.

That is the big takeaway from the latest federal wage data, which show that paychecks across the region grew at their slowest pace in five years during the first quarter.

The average weekly wage of workers in the Buffalo Niagara region – a figure that reflects not only hourly earnings, but how many hours a worker puts in – grew by 3.5% to $1,335 during the first quarter. That is a little better than the 2.4% increase in consumer prices during the same period.

That was the smallest increase since a 2.7% gain during the first quarter of 2020, just before the Covid-19 pandemic spawned a worker shortage that pushed average wages up far beyond their usual rate. The average weekly wage jumped by 7.5% in 2022, and by 8.2% in

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