> For the poorest the wages have essentially not increased for a long time right?

No. Nominal wages grew from ‘21 to ‘23, hitting all-time highs in ‘24 [1].

> It hasn’t even kept up with inflation

It did [2].

[1] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CXU900000LB0102M

[2] https://www.epi.org/publication/swa-wages-2023/

Good data! Looking at the objective figure on the chart is sobering tho - $4k in income!(I think it may go up after taxes given tax credits?)