SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY): ETF Research Reports It’s a complicated issue to get one’s arms around, but a couple key stats help pave the way toward a basic understanding where we are, approximately, right now: the most recent Consumer Price Index (CPI) reached 7.9%, while Average Hourly Earnings from the nonfarm payroll report last week showed year-over-year growth of 5.6%. Basically, while wage growth is the highest we’ve seen since before the pandemic began, it’s not keeping up with current inflation metrics.