“People don’t want to work anymore.”
Okay.
Offer someone $15 an hour for a difficult job.
Then offer that same person $45 an hour.
Watch how quickly the “work ethic problem” disappears.
The latest data makes this harder to dismiss.
Average hourly earnings rose 3.2% over the past year in July, while inflation was 3.4%. Real hourly earnings fell 0.2%.
So the average worker got a slightly bigger paycheck that bought slightly less.
Then the Federal Reserve actually went out and talked to lower and moderate income workers.
Its 2026 Worker Perspectives report found that compensation was foundational.
Not luxury.
Not getting rich.
Just enough money to pay the bills without constantly falling behind.
One worker earning under $50,000 said:
“We make enough just to live.”
Another worker earning $60,000 to $75,000 described being one or two paychecks away from being in a bad financial position.
That’s the part people miss.
If working 40 hours a week gets you food, rent, utilities and a car payment, but leaves nothing left over, eventually you start asking what you’re actually working toward.
And the labor market isn’t exactly giving workers endless alternatives right now.
The U.S. lost 23,000 jobs in July, while the previous two months were revised down by more than 100,000.
Wage growth slowed to 3.2%.
Labor force participation fell to 61.4%.
So you’ve got a weird combination.
People need more money because everything costs more.
But wage growth is slowing.
And finding a better job isn’t getting easier.
Maybe the problem isn’t that Americans suddenly forgot how to work.
Maybe the reward stopped being worth the sacrifice.
Pay someone $45 an hour and suddenly working late has a purpose.
Take an extra shift and it actually moves the needle.
Do a good job and maybe you can build savings.
Maybe you can pay off debt.
Maybe you can finally afford a house.
Maybe you can stop living one emergency away from disaster.
People haven’t forgotten how to work.
They’ve gotten better at doing the math.