Blue-collar workers have seen real wage growth of almost two percent in the first five months of President Donald Trump’s second term, the largest increase for any administration in nearly 60 years.
The 1.7% pay bump is in stark contrast to negative growth under Joe Biden, according to new data from the US Department of the Treasury.
Since Richard Nixon in 1969, Trump has been the only president to record positive growth for blue-collar workers in his first five months. He also achieved 1.3% in his first term.
The recovery from a 1.7% decline recorded in Biden’s first five months, as inflation outpaced earnings, suggests a shift in economic conditions for this financially stressed segment of the workforce.
“The only other time it’s been this high was… during President Trump’s first term,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told me on the latest episode of the “Pod Force One” podcast, out Wednesday.
“We’ve seen real wages for hourly workers, non-supervisory workers, rise almost 2% in the first five months. … No president has done that before.”
Falling inflation has driven the significant improvement in blue-collar wages, lifting workers’ take-home pay and living standards.
Bessent says wage growth is also fueled by the president’s “emphasis on manufacturing” and commitment to remove illegal migrants from the workforce.
“Biden opened the border, and it was flooded,” said Bessent. “And for working Americans, that’s a disaster because it’s pressure on their wages.”
Blue-collar workers are seeing wage growth that hasn’t been seen in nearly 60 years.
The latest year-to-date gain in real blue-collar wage growth, from December 2024 to May 2025, is more than twice the rate of 0.8% growth in the Nixon administration.
Every other administration since has seen wage growth fall in comparable periods for blue-collar workers (defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as nonsupervisory and production workers).
Barack Obama presided over a decline of 0.3% in real blue-collar wage growth in 2009, Bill Clinton (1993) and George W. Bush (2001) each saw a 0.6% decline, Ronald Reagan (1981) saw the sector’s wage growth fall 0.9%, and George H.W. Bush (1989) registered a 3.0% drop. Under Carter (1977), blue-collar wages stagnated with zero growth.
Scott Bessent talked about blue-collar wage growth during his appearance on Pod Force One with Miranda Devine.
Trump’s team claims that once the “One Big Beautiful Bill” passes the Senate, as early as July, the economy will get a “double whammy” boon of lower inflation and accelerating wages, a feature of his first term.
The budget reconciliation bill includes targeted relief for unskilled or blue-collar workers promised by Trump during last year’s presidential campaign, including “no tax on tips.”
The bill would also eliminate federal income taxes on overtime pay for over 80 million hourly workers in industries like manufacturing, construction, and first responders who often rely on overtime for income.
Tax incentives for manufacturers to build US factories are also intended to create up to 6 million blue-collar jobs in construction and manufacturing, reversing decades of offshoring.
New York City Mayor candidate Mamdani – who has lived most of his life in subsidized housing – failed in his attempts to be a rapper, musician and managing previous political campaigns.
An analysis of the 33-year-old’s work history shows he has been employed for only approximately three years in the time between graduating college in 2014 and being elected to the New York State Assembly in 2020.
Zohran Mamdani, a Demorati Socialist candidate running for mayor of New York City, has barely worked a day in his life.AFP via Getty Images
Behind the shiny social media posts of the progressive upstart there is little substance and no proof of success, critics point out.
“What does this guy know?” said political strategist Hank Sheinkopf. “He’s a make believe character who has no idea how the city works, how to run a jail, how to run a subway system and the biggest sanitation department in the country.
“Who would he even surround himself with? Children like him?”
Uganda-born Mamdani’s resume starts in 2014 after he graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine with a degree in Africana Studies.
He worked as an organizer for advocacy group MoveOn in Seattle four months. They want to create a “inclusive and progressive future,” according to its mission statement, which adds “We envision a world marked by equality, sustainability, justice, and love. “
He then spent two months at TexPIRG, an advocacy group in Texas, according to the New York Times, which cited his old resumes.
In 2015, he worked as music supervisor on “Queen of Katwe,” a Hollywood film about a chess prodigy from a shantytown on the outskirts of Kampala, directed by his mother, Mira Nair, an Oscar-nominated filmmaker.
Zohran Mamdani (center) worked with Indian chef Madhu Jaffrey on a rap video about the power of Indian grandmothers.Zohran Mamdani/ Mr. Cardamom
Mamdani’s father, Mahmood Mamdani, is a professor of anthropology, political science and African Studies at Columbia.
“I actually created a playlist for Mira, who also happens to be my mother — you know, nepotism and hard work goes a long way,” quipped Mamdani in an interview with Kaya FM in South Africa in 2016, shortly before the Disney film was released.
At the time, Mamdani was 25. He then decided to pursue a career as a rapper in his native Uganda, working under the moniker Mr. Cardamon.
In 2019, he made a rap music video featuring Madhu Jaffrey, an icon of Indian cuisine, starring as a tough grandmother.
He was also a campaign manager for progressive candidates including Ross Barkan, a journalist-turned-politician, during his unsuccessful campaign for New York State Senate in 2018.
Mamdani worked on Ross Barkan’s campaign in 2018, but it failed.
Then he did a short stint as a financial counselor for Chhaya, a nonprofit that works with the South Asian community in Queens — where he says he now lives in a rent stabilized apartment — before running for New York State Assembly in 2020.
A spokesman for Mamdani’s campaign refused to provide his resume or say how long he had worked for Chhaya and declined comment to The Post Monday.
Highlighting his lack of experience, Liena Zagare, editor of The Bigger Apple newsletter at the Manhattan Institute told The Post: “Mamdani’s running a campaign full of slogans, crowds, and big promises—but he’s never managed a budget, run a large agency or had to deliver results in real time.
“That kind of inexperience risks turning hope into gridlock, and vision into chaos, and voters should be clear eyed about that.”
As a member of the state assembly, Mamdani has been long on advocacy but done little to craft actual legislation, passing only three bills during his tenure, including one for a free MTA bus pilot project.
Oscar-nominated film director Mira Nair employed her son Zohran Mamdani as music supervisor on her film, Queen of Katwe, which was released in 2016.Getty Images
Mamdani, whose family moved to New York City when he was seven years old, attended the Bronx High School of Science and lived in Columbia University housing — “a plush apartment with no rent,” in his own words — for most of his life.
Although critics say Mamdani is ill-prepared to preside over a city of more than eight million people, his campaign has been effective, especially among young voters.
Among his campaign promises is generating $10 billion in new taxes from the wealthy to pay for free child care and free buses.
“As I run this campaign, I am very clear about that which I know, and also understanding that which I don’t know,” Mamdani told the New York Times last week.
On Monday, the same newspaper’s editorial board, which no longer endorses political candidates in state and local elections, weighed in on Mamdani, noting “he offers the kind of fresh political style for which many people are hungry during the angry era of President Trump.
Most of Zohran Mamdani’s work experience has involved helping other candidates and a short stint as a financial counsellor at a South Asian charity in Queens.Daniel Efram/ZUMA / SplashNews.com
“Unfortunately, Mr. Mamdani is running on an agenda uniquely unsuited to the city’s challenges.”
Political strategist George Arzt, who worked as press secretary in former New York City Mayor Ed Koch’s administration between 1978 and 1989, agreed.
“I don’t think Zohran is prepared for the mayoralty,” said Arzt. “He’s young and totally lacks credentials for the job. Running a campaign on pure left wing ideology is a losing proposition for running the city.”
Early voting in the Democratic primary opened on Saturday, with the primary election to be held June 24. Polls show Mamdani only slightly trailing former governor Andrew Cuomo in popularity.
Mamdani has received endorsements from progressive Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D. NY), the Working Families Party and fellow mayoral candidates Brad Lander and Michael Blake.
He is scheduled to appear at a Saturday Live Action Rally in Harlem for Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, a civil rights nonprofit. NAN has invited other candidates, including Adrienne Adams, Michael Black, Brad Lander and Andrew Cuomo, but is not likely to endorse anyone for mayor, according to a NAN spokesman.
Ventyx Biosciences has sharedphase 2a data on a Parkinson’s disease prospect that has caught the eye of Sanofi. The readout shows the effect of VTX3232 on biomarkers, providing some of the data that will inform whether Sanofi takes up its right of first negotiation on the NLRP3 inhibitor.
Sanofi secured the rights last year in conjunction with its $27 million investment in Ventyx. The right of first negotiation starts at the second VTX3232 readout—an obesity and cardiometabolic risk factor data drop that is scheduled for the fall—but Sanofi can choose to engage Ventyx before that. Ventyx released data Tuesday that could influence Sanofi’s thinking.
The results come from a phase 2a trial that evaluated a 40-mg oral daily dose of VTX3232 in 10 patients with early-stage, idiopathic Parkinson’s over a 28-day treatment period. No serious adverse events were reported. All adverse events were deemed unrelated to the study treatment.Ventyx generated pharmacokinetic data that support once-daily dosing and tracked drops in biomarkers of NLRP3 inhibition. Improvements in Parkinson’s motor and non-motor symptoms were seen, too, according to the biotech. In a statement, the principal investigator called the improvements encouraging, “with the usual caveats associated with an open-label study.”
Ventyx said the data met its internal criteria for further development in Parkinson’s disease. The biotech is now planning a placebo-controlled phase 2 trial in Parkinson’s to assess different doses of VTX3232. Moves into additional neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease are under consideration.
At a Jefferies investor event earlier this month, Ventyx CEO Raju Mohan, Ph.D., discussed potential next steps for dealmaking.
“Sanofi is not restricted to waiting until the second readout," Mohan said. "They can have a look at this data at the first read itself. They or anybody else can act any time. We can't solicit other folks as part of [the right of first negotiation], but somebody can say, ‘Hey, look, we love your data.'"
Investor interest in Sanofi’s agreement with Ventyx ratcheted up last month when the French drugmaker bought Vigil Neuroscience. Sanofi had a right of first negotiation on a Vigil asset but chose to acquire the biotech outright. Investors are now waiting to see whether the same fate awaits Ventyx.
Dyne Therapeutics (DYN) announced the FDA has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation to DYNE-101 for the treatment of myotonic dystrophy type 1. The company also announced an updated plan for obtaining U.S. Accelerated Approval for DYNE-101 in DM1 following a Type C meeting with the FDA and analysis of new long-term functional data.
John Cox, president and CEO of Dyne, said: "Based on feedback from the FDA, along with our 6-month and new 12-month efficacy data, we have submitted a revised protocol for the ongoing Registrational Expansion Cohort of the ACHIEVE trial with vHOT as the primary endpoint for potential Accelerated Approval."
Dyne plans to use data from the Registrational Expansion Cohort and from the already enrolled patients in the multiple ascending dose and ongoing long-term extension portions of the ACHIEVE trial to support a potential submission for Accelerated Approval in the U.S.
Dyne Therapeutics said data from the cohort are planned for mid-2026 to support a potential U.S. Accelerated Approval submission in late 2026. The company expects that its cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of March 31, 2025 will be sufficient to fund its operations into the fourth quarter of 2026.
Surgery Partners (NASDAQ:SGRY) announced that discussions with Bain Capital regarding their proposal to acquire remaining outstanding shares have concluded without a deal. The Independent Committee determined that the company's prospects as a public entity exceeded Bain's proposal value. Surgery Partners reaffirmed its 2025 financial guidance, projecting revenues of $3.30-3.45 billion and Adjusted EBITDA of $555-565 million. The company plans to host an Investor Day in H2 2025 to present its growth strategy. Management expressed confidence in the company's positioning in the outpatient surgical care market, citing strong Q1 performance, favorable surgical trends, and a positive regulatory landscape. Bain Capital, while unable to reach agreement terms, remains optimistic about Surgery Partners' business and will continue as long-term investors.
Aldeyra Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALDX) (Aldeyra), a biotechnology company devoted to discovering and developing innovative therapies designed to treat immune‑mediated and metabolic diseases, today announced the resubmission of a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for topical ocular reproxalap, an investigational new drug candidate, for the treatment of signs and symptoms of dry eye disease. Per FDA agreement, the only new clinical data included in the resubmitted NDA were from the recently completed dry eye chamber trial, which achieved the primary endpoint.
U.S. FDA grants Orphan Drug Designation to Deramiocel for the treatment of Becker Muscular Dystrophy, broadening Capricor’s focus in neuromuscular diseases
Capricor remains on track for the August 31, 2025, PDUFA date for Deramiocel in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy following successful FDA Pre-License Inspection
