Here's a snapshot of where things stand for median-and-below earners as of early September 2026 data:

**1. Real wages are flat to negative for lower earners, even though headline numbers look fine.** Nominal wage growth decelerated to 3.1% year-over-year in August, while headline CPI inflation was running 3.3% year-over-year as of March 2026. The gap is worse than that average suggests: after-tax wage growth for lower-income households has slowed to just 1.4%, far behind the 4.0% growth higher-income households are seeing. So the "average" wage-vs-inflation story masks a real divergence by income tier.

**2. Labor's share of the economic pie is at a record low.** The labor share   the percentage of output that goes to workers as compensation   was 52.8% in Q2 2026, the lowest reading since the series began. That's a structural signal: more of what the economy produces is flowing to capital/profits rather than paychecks.

**3. Households have almost no savings cushion left.** The personal savings rate fell to an extreme low of 2.6% of after-tax income in April 2026. Combined with wage growth expected to stay muted, that leaves little room to absorb a shock   a job loss, a medical bill, a car repair.

**4. Lower-tier households are increasingly financing basic living costs with credit   a "K-shaped" divide.** Total consumer debt hit an all-time high of $18.19 trillion in Q1 2026, driven largely by subprime borrowers opening new bankcards, with subprime bankcard originations up 18.6% year-over-year. Equifax's own read: credit has moved beyond a financial tool and may now be a necessity for managing rising living costs for the lower economic tier. Prime borrowers, meanwhile, are doing fine   hence "K-shaped."

**5. The topline jobs numbers are okay, but they hide an education/income skew.** August added 162,000 jobs with unemployment holding at 4.1%. But break it out by education and the picture splits sharply: 4.7% unemployment for those without a high school diploma versus 2.7% for those with a bachelor's degree or higher   a gap that tracks income tier closely. Layer on OBBBA healthcare subsidy cuts pushing out-of-pocket medical costs up for millions, creating a "shadow inflation" not fully captured in CPI, and the squeeze on the lower half is worse than the headline numbers show.

**The throughline:** aggregate indicators (GDP growth, unemployment rate) look reasonably healthy, but every metric that disaggregates by income tier   wage growth, savings rate, debt reliance, unemployment by education   shows the bottom half absorbing disproportionately more strain. That's a classic late-cycle divergence pattern, and it's exactly the kind of thing that gets smoothed over in "the economy is fine" headline reporting.