Source page: McKinsey & Company
Commentary
Right on the money
Jobs | Payments
May 10, 2022 – Greater demand for goods and services has put workers in a more powerful position—leading to wage rates in the private sector that are double those before the pandemic. A McKinsey analysis shows the highest wage gains were seen in service sectors, particular hospitality and leisure, warehousing, and construction.
To read the article, see “Full-potential procurement: Lessons amid inflation and volatility,” April 8, 2022.
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Visual form
Horizontal grouped bar chart.
Layout / body structure
The chart is a single panel with industries listed from top to bottom and two bars for each row. Read each sector from left to right, comparing the black pre-COVID two-year growth bar with the blue COVID-period growth bar before moving down to the next sector and finally the total rows at the bottom.
What is being compared
The chart compares average weekly earnings growth across private-sector industries. It compares pre-COVID wage growth from December 2017 to December 2019 with wage growth during the COVID period from December 2019 to February 2022, while also indicating a longer 10-year pre-COVID reference.
Measurement system
The horizontal scale is compound annualized growth in percent. Black bars show the pre-COVID two-year rate, blue bars show the COVID-period rate, and a dotted reference line marks the longer-run pre-COVID benchmark for orientation.
Visible structure inside the graphic
Every sector is shown as a paired horizontal bar, and the length gap between the black and blue bars is the main organizing signal. The sectors with the largest COVID-period acceleration stretch farthest to the right in blue, while the totals at the bottom summarize the economy-wide shift and the inflation-adjusted picture.
Main takeaway from the visual
Private-sector wages are rising much faster after the pandemic than they were beforehand, with especially sharp acceleration in service-heavy sectors. The blue bars exceed the black bars in every row, and the gap is widest in leisure and hospitality, education and health, construction, and transport and warehousing.
Key standout values or extremes
Private-sector wage growth rises from 3.1 percent before COVID to 6.7 percent during the COVID period, while the inflation-adjusted total rises from 1.0 percent to 2.2 percent. Leisure and hospitality jumps from 3.9 percent to 7.2 percent, education and health rises from 2.9 percent to 7.2 percent, construction moves from 2.7 percent to 6.0 percent, and transport and warehousing rises from 1.5 percent to 6.0 percent.
Controls / sequence, when applicable
This is a static chart image with no in-chart controls to operate.
Companion media, when applicable
There is no separate companion audio or video; the chart image is the full visual on this page.